Australia Happened
by NickieButterfly
Summary: How did Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger end up together? Well Australia happened. Fluff. No Smut. Slow - Burn
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is the first ever fic I started.

Prologue

After the Battle and the seemingly endless funerals were over, Hermione Granger had gone in search of her parents. Upon having their memories restored and learning about Hermione's true involvement in the war, they were conflicted. They liked Australia and felt that they hadn't really finished their time there, but they didn't want to be apart from their daughter any longer. They had a relationship to heal and a daughter who was showing signs of post-traumatic stress. In the end they split their time between Australia and England. Australia gave the small family the quiet they needed to begin healing the broken bonds of trust, England forced Hermione to confront her anxiety and learn to cope with the reality of the loss of so many loved ones. Come September Hermione was coping a lot better and her parents felt confident that they could return to Australia for the school year and decisions about where they would live come June, could be made later.

It turned out to be a lot easier than the Granger's had anticipated to make a choice that suited them all.

Harry, Ron, Neville and Hermione had all been offered direct entry into Auror training. Hermione had declined the offer knowing she didn't want to spend any more of her life fighting ,and feeling that her talents would be put to better use elsewhere. Kingsley was desperate for staff, but had the forethought to realise that Harry in particular, had spent his whole life fighting an adult's fight, and that the boys all deserved to experience just one year of peace and normal teenage life before once again taking on the task of saving the world. So whilst they were guaranteed a position and obtaining their N.E.W.T.S was simply a recommendation, Kingsley insisted they return to Hogwarts and they would start their three-year Auror training in June.

In February, a very excited Ginny received an invitation to the Quidditch League's recruitment and training camp. She returned for her final term with a contract for the Holyhead Harpies ,and was therefore moving to Holyhead after Graduation. Luna's Quibbler article on the mating patterns of Blithering Humdingers had brought her to the attention of a Naturalist Society who offered her an internship with a team working to preserve magical creatures' habitats in South America. So in the end Hermione had no reason to stay in London and instead chose to join her parents in Australia, where after 6 months of travelling the country together Hermione would indulge her dream of attending University. Muggle university, since the magical world didn't have an equivalent. It was the last place she expected to meet anyone she knew.


	2. Chapter 2

March 2000

Hermione waltzed into the empty lecture theater full of nervous excitement. It was her first day of classes and she couldn't wait to get started, which is why she was 20 minutes early, and had read the textbook. In fact she'd read all the textbooks assigned for her first semester of a dual degree in Law and Arts. She'd chosen Arts in the end because she just couldn't decide what to pick as a dedicated major; Peace and Conflict studies, Human Rights, Political Science, Sociology, Public Policy, International Relations. There were so many disciplines that called to her and that could help her to bring true change to the Wizarding world.

Her first class of the year was Introduction to Sociology, and as Hermione looked around the lecture theater and chose a seat (just off centre and slightly above the lecturer's eye height.) she was looking forward to being surrounded by people who actually cared about learning. Curious about her fellow students she looked up at the sound of someone in the doorway. It was still over 15 minutes before class would begin so Hermione was actually anticipating that the next person to enter the room would be the lecturer, instead she got the shock of her life when she looked up. The person in the doorway seemed to be lingering, and so Hermione had slowly scanned up from the expensive shoes to the crisp slacks and black button up only to find herself frozen in equal shock as her eyes locked with a pair of extremely familiar grey eyes and platinum blonde eyebrows raised high in equal shock. Hermione's mouth formed the name silently watching as his did the same. "Malfoy?", "Granger?" before she promptly blacked out.

"Granger, hey Granger, wake up"

Draco was panicking, just slightly. Here he was in Australia at a Muggle University and the girl he had watched be tortured in his drawing room had just fainted in her chair upon seeing him. This was bad. Very bad. No one was supposed to find him here, not even Blaise or Pansy knew where he was, in fact the only person in the world who knew who or where he was was his mother. Until three seconds ago that is. And now of all people _she_ was there and he was shaking her and yelling her name, trying to get her to wake up and fighting off the rising sense of panic as his brain flashed with images of the last time this girl had been unconscious in his presence. It was in this state of panic that the lecturer found him, screaming at her to wake up whilst rocking and shaking on the spot, a dazed look in his eye. The lecturer immediately went to the phone on the wall and called the campus medics, before slowly approaching the pair.

"Son, I'm Professor Chapman, everything's going to be alright, the doctors are on their way. Can you tell me what happened?" the professor asked gently placing his hand on Draco's shoulder. Draco blinked a few times and looked at the man.

"Huh?"

The professor kindly repeated his question and this time Draco absorbed enough to actually formulate an answer. "Granger…. I just…I walked in and she saw me and just fainted sir"

"Granger, that's her name? do you know her?"

"Yeah, yeah, we went to school together in Scotland"

"Ok well, the Medics will be here soon and they are going to take both of you to get checked out, do you know if she has any medical conditions that might cause her to faint like this?"

"what…..oh, no, but umm she's been through some trauma"

The medics arrived and placed Hermione onto a stretcher, whilst another gently guided Draco out the door. As they walked out Draco suddenly let out a harsh laugh "she's going to be so pissed that she missed the first class" he said ruefully.

Professor Chapman looked at him curiously, "she's a bit of a swot sir" Draco explained.

"Right well when she wakes up you can let her know that I will be teaching this same class two other times this week, you are both welcome to come to one of those lectures to catch up". Nodding vaguely Draco followed the medical staff out of the building and across the quad.

Five minutes later he found himself sitting in the campus medical centre, his head between his knees and a nurse patting his back encouraging him to breathe normally, Hermione was on a bed next to him, still passed out. A doctor and nurse were standing at the end of Hermione's bed discussing her state. "There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her, she's just in shock" the doctor explained in low tones.

"So it's a psychological reaction then? questioned the nurse.

"Indeed we simply need to wait for her to feel ready to wake up, I suggest you write both of them a referral for the psychologist clearly the boy is having a panic attack, he seems to be lost in his own world too, I suspect there is more to his reaction than simply seeing someone faint."

"The lecturer mentioned they knew each other, do you think there might be something in their history that they both experienced then?"

"Indeed, nurse Lowan. When she wakes and the boy is calm, send the psychologist in to see them."

"Of course sir"

 _Shit!_ thought Draco, _what the hell are we going to tell a muggle psychologist?_

Thankfully, when Hermione finally stirred, the medical staff were all out of the room. Reacting quickly Draco cast silencing and locking spells on the room before approaching Hermione.

"The…..where am I?" Hermione groaned

"Listen carefully Granger, we don't have much time to come up with a plan."

"Malfoy? What, what are you doing here? where am I?"

"Never mind that now Granger, you'll have your answers soon, but right now we need to figure out what we're going to say to the Muggle Psychologist those healers are going to call as soon as they see you are awake. We need to get our story straight as to why you fainted at the sight of me."

"Doctors"

"what?"

"They're called doctors Malfoy, not healers"

"I fucking know that, can you please focus!" he snapped "any minute those doctors are going to come back in here and start asking questions that we can't answer without being locked up. Who the fuck cares what they are called. that's not important right now."

"ugh" Hermione groaned sitting up slowly. "alright, do you have any suggestions?"

"No"

"Well what have you been doing while I was unconscious? you were the one who could formulate a plan" she huffed.

Draco jumped to his feet, fists clenched, towering over Hermione's bed, lowering his face inches from hers

"I was having a fucking panic attack alright!" He spat "If you must know seeing _you_ unconscious brought back some not particularly pleasant memories and I had flashbacks, that's what I was doing"

Hermione's jaw dropped as she looked at Draco's face, the anger radiating off him in waves, "Oh" she said simply.

"Right." Malfoy continued getting himself under control and sitting back down on his chair. "so a plan"

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, Hermione shooting Malfoy confused glances. "Ok well, I guess we can tell them that we know each other from school and that you used to pick on me and that neither of us expected to see each other so that was a bit of a shock" Hermione ventured. Draco made a derisive noise,

"They already know there's more to it than that Granger, and people call you smart."

"Well I don't know, you come up with something then!"

"Fine. We'll tell them that our school was involved in a bus crash and some classmates died and you were in a coma, and I transferred schools after so we haven't seen each other since the crash so seeing each other unexpectedly was a shock for you, and seeing you unconscious caused me to have flashbacks. It's close enough to the truth that they won't be suspicious that we're hiding something, and should steer us clear of too many awkward questions."

"Ok, thats, thats actually a really good plan Malfoy" Hermione replied, clearly taken aback. "Wait, how do you what a bus crash is?"

"Later, the nurse is coming"

"How can you tell?"

"Wards" he replied pulling out his wand and quickly disabling the charms.

"Oh"

The nurse and psychologist both took copious notes, first establishing basic medical history and creating the new students a file, before the psychologist moved on to questioning them about why they thought they reacted as they did. Their cover story held up and there was only one time the pair had looked at each other in panic urging the other to answer for them. Within the hour they were brought some food and left alone to rest, and informed they would be discharged after the next set of rounds. As soon as the room was clear Draco pulled his wand and replaced the charms he had previously applied.

"How did you know the nurse was coming?" Hermione quizzed.

"I told you Granger, wards, don't you listen?

"Yes, but, it's just, I don't think I know of any wards that can tell you who is coming"

"Of course you wouldn't, it's a pureblood spell."

"oh"

Silence fell for a few beats before Hermione's curiosity got to her again. "What are you doing at a muggle university, Malfoy?"

Draco sighed, "after the war everyone was, well, _wary_ of my family. It made life in wizarding society rather uncomfortable. At my trial I was given a choice, six months in Azkaban or a ban from using magic for a year, I figured if I was going to be the scum of society I might as well live like a Muggle, so I took the magic ban and spent a year living a life where no one knew me or my family or what I'd done. It was surprisingly freeing. At the end of the year, I wrote to McGonagall and asked if I could take my N.E.W.T.S, she agreed and I was looking forward to coming back to the magical world, but people weren't exactly welcoming. Mother wasn't coping living in the Mannor anyway, so we decided to move away, make a fresh start." He fell silent for a moment, and Hermione waited, considering everything he had told her. With a shrug he continued "We figured Australia was the furthest we could get from London, and that we would be able to live here in the wizarding community without the stigma the Malfoy name now carries. During my year without magic I'd had to learn to live in the muggle world, and well, it wasn't what i'd expected." he laughed dryly. "I started to question how it is that I, and all my friends were able to be raised with such complete lies told to us about the world outside our own, you know? How did we get to the point of the Muggle Born registration committee, or where those who claimed they were the pinnacle of society raped and tortured and murdered people for post dinner- party entertainment, where the general public doesn't know a damn thing about what muggles are actually like….." Draco trailed off.

"You learnt what it's like to be me" Hermione mused quietly.

"Yeah. I guess I did." he said thoughtfully. "Anyway, I eventually stumbled upon psychology and sociology and I thought maybe I might find some answers as to how the wizarding world got to be so fucked up that my father, and Goyle and Crabbe and Nott's father's' dreams were to raise their sons to serve a madman. Who does that?" he finished looking haunted.

"I don't know" Hermione signed "But I hope you find what you're looking for Draco."

Draco's head whipped around at the sound of his given name on Hermione's lips, and he stared at her in confusion for a minute. Finally he spoke rambling slightly in an effort to put his turmoil into words.

"Why?" he muttered bitterly. "Why don't you hate me? You should hate me! I stood there and watched my aunt carve into your arm and crucio you again and again, I tormented you for years, you _should_ hate me."

Hermione looked at him carefully, almost as if she were studying a curious object. When she spoke Draco had to strain to hear her words.

"I did, I hated you for 6 years, the names you called me, the hurt…..but then the snatchers got us, and instead of contempt and smugness at seeing us get caught, when I looked at you I saw fear. You tried to lie for us Draco." she sighed. "Harry had told Ron and I that you were lowering your wand, that you wouldn't have done it, that night on the Astronomy tower, I hadn't quite believed him until then, when I looked at you and saw the fear and panic in your eyes. You looked at me and it was like I could do Legilimency and your thoughts were screaming ' _you fools, why did you have to get caught? We are all doomed.'_ and then there was Bellatrix, and so much pain, and everything around me was blacking out except for two things. Ron calling for me, and the look on your face. I knew you didn't believe anymore, that you were only on Voldemort's side because you didn't know how to escape. You tried to save us Draco." Hermione glanced over at the boy sitting next to her, his face ashen and tears forming in his eyes. knowing he needed some time to process everything, she turned away from him

"I'm going to sleep now" she said.

Half an hour later the nurse returned to check on them. Whilst she was examining Draco, Hermione suddenly shot up from her sleep. "Oh we missed the first lesson!"

Draco snorted. "I knew it. I knew that's what you'd be most worried about"

Hermione began to ramble in panic, fretting about missing work and not knowing anyone and the Lecturer being mad at them "Granger, calm down. I already told the Lecturer you'd panic like this. He said he runs the exact same class two more times this week and we can just go to one of those."

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief "Oh, good, that's good."

When the nurse had discharged them and Draco stood to leave Hermione found herself suddenly calling out for him to wait. He turned and looked at her quizzically, Hermione swallowed nervously unsure why on earth she was doing this, then blurted out "Would you like to go to the make up class together and then get a coffee or something?"

Draco blinked at her and for a few seconds Hermione was terrified he was going to laugh, then he opened his mouth "Sure, I'll owl you" he said, and walked away. And Hermione felt her whole body sag in unexpected relief.


	3. Chapter 3

3 days later

"Right, I told you all my secrets, so now it's time for you to spill yours, Granger" Draco smirked as the pair left the lecture theatre after their catch up of Professor Chapman's class.

"Riiight" Hermione replied rolling her eyes, "well if i'm going to tell you secrets then we should at least get out of the classroom first don't you think Draco"

 _Draco_

There she was doing it again, calling him Draco, she'd always called him Malfoy, the name sounded strange coming from her lips, but for some reason (that he was _not_ prepared to investigate) Draco found he liked the change.

"Where should we go then?

"There's a great little coffee shop in the bottom of SS&H, how 'bout there?"

"S, S and H?" Draco looked at her quizzically

"The Social Sciences and Humanities Library" Hermione replied with just a hint of scorn, "you know the library for our department"

"There's more than one library!?"

Hermione stopped and looked at him incredulously "Of course there's more than one library, there are seven on this campus and fifteen in total for the University. I take it you did not attend a campus tour during O-week" she continued "Honestly Draco, I would have expected such behaviour from Ron and even Harry, but I thought you cared about your schooling" With that she spun on her heel and continued walking briskly.

"I care alright" Draco shouted slightly trying to catch up, "I just didn't want to go on some dumb campus tour with a bunch of other first years looking like an idiot. I would have just looked on the map when I needed to go there." He'd caught up to her quickly and they were now side by side again. "And anyway, now you can just show me, and be all know-it-all-ish. Surely you'll enjoy showing me up with your superior knowledge of the history and layout of UQ. I've heard the stories about you and _Hogwarts: a history,_ I'll bet you could have done a better job leading that tour than the poor sod third year who got roped into it."

Hermione's was confused. _I think that was a compliment_ she thought _, from Malfoy!_

"Well?" He drawled looking at her with one eyebrow quirked

"Well what?" she shot back

"Am I right that you knew more than the tour guide?"

"uh, yeah maybe" Hermione admitted shyly.

"See" Draco continued with a shrug, "I would have been wasting my time anyway, better to just get you to show me around"

"You, ah, you want me to give you a private tour?" Hermione stammered her brain working on overdrive.

"A _Private_ tour?" Draco questioned, lecherously "You don't by chance live in the student residences do you Granger? Would this private tour include a tour of your dorm?"

"WHAT?" Hermione shrieked, hitting him on the shoulder "No Draco! That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Shame" Malfoy deadpanned, "I suppose you're with The Weasel anyway. This it?" he asked gesturing to the sandstone building in front of them

Hermione's mind was reeling _what is going on? Did Draco Malfoy just compliment me and then proposition me? Surely i'm imagining things. Or this is just some new ploy of his to try and get the upper hand, maybe he feels he revealed too much the other day and so he's messing with me to try and backtrack. But then he's willing asking to spend time with me…. i'm so confused._

"Oh, yeah. come on" she responded vaguely

A few minutes later the pair were sitting at an outdoor table at the small cafe on the bottom floor of the SS&H library, Hermione, fiddling anxiously with the table number on its stick and biting her bottom lip.

"I'm not actually" she stated suddenly breaking the awkward silence that had followed them in from outside. "Dating Ron that is" she continued glancing up at Draco and then quickly down again. "It, just, well…."

Draco just sat there waiting silently, the one useful thing he'd learnt in his time as a Death Eater was how to sweat information out of someone, staying silent made them far more likely to spill.

"We're just so young you know, and neither of us had dated much before we got together" _Bingo_ Draco thought as Hermione started rambling suddenly looking at him again "and well we decided that since we're going to be apart for three years anyway, it would be a good idea for us to explore our options, get to know new people you know…" she trailed off looking away.

"Makes sense to me" Draco shrugged.

"Yes, well, Ron didn't see it that way." He noted that Hermione's voice had more than a little bit of bite to it. He stuck with his wait-it-out tactic and was soon rewarded. "Harry and Ginny got engaged, and well, Ron started talking about us getting married too and I freaked out a bit. I mean, I'm happy for Harry and Gin, I really am and I think they will be happy together, but we're not even 20, you know and marriage is a big commitment, especially with the lifespans of witches and wizards, and I just, if i'm going to marry my high school sweetheart I just want to know that it's because we're really meant to be not because we were expected to."

Hermione fell silent staring at her hands now wringing in her lap. The waitress came with their orders allowing her a moment to collect herself.

Draco broke the silence. "So is that why you're here?"

"Oh, no" Hermione stated emphatically, "This was planned, I'm not running away from Ron."

Draco just looked at her, all raised eyebrows and a face that clearly said he did not believe her.

"No, Honestly Draco. Harry, Ron and Neville were going off to Auror training, Ginny's in Holyhead and Luna's in South America. We were all going to be apart anyway, and well, I kind of owed my parents a proper chance to rebuild our relationship so I decided I may as well come to Australia."

"You're parent's were here?"

"Yes, well….umm… you see Ikindaerasedtheirmemoriesandsentthemtoausttaliawithoutthierconsent"

"What?"

"It was the only thing I could think of to keep them safe" Hermione looked down at the pile of napkin pieces she'd been unconsciously shredding, trying to hide her tears, but Draco was far too used to reading people to not notice.

"Alright Granger" he said standing up, "let's go find somewhere where you can tell me this story properly, and then you can give me that campus tour you promised."

"What, I didn't promise…" Hermione interjected but Draco pulled her out of her seat and grabbed her hand and lead her off anyway.

 **Mid March**

 _Dear Ginny,_

 _I think i'm becoming friends with Draco Malfoy._

 _don't tell Harry and Ron._

 _Love Hermione_


	4. Chapter 4

April 2000

"ugh, it's supposed to Autumn why is it still so hot!?" Hermione complained throwing her books down onto the table she and Draco always used for their study sessions. The pair had decided to work as study partners for Sociology and History and were slowly developing a friendship, meeting a couple of times a week both on and off campus.

"I believe the muggle are blaming something called the ozone layer" Draco drawled in reply "Global heating"

"It's global warming, Malfoy. and apparently this is just completely normal weather for Brisbane. People in my Law class said it never states to cool down properly until after ANZAC day, that's not till the 25th. How are you coping with it being so hot? You're wearing trousers for Merlin's sake." Hermione huffed, attempting to get her hair, which had been ridiculously frizzy for months now thanks to the humidity, back into a bun to keep it off her neck.

Draco just shrugged. "We're inside, it's air-conditioned. When I go outside I cast a cooling charm first."

"I've been doing that! It's just not enough, there is sweat sticking me to this damn chair" Hermione whined.

"Personally I'm finding it a nice change from back home" Draco replied returning to his research.

After ten minutes of Hermione's continued huffing, and attempts to find a way to sit without her legs being stuck to her seat, Draco let out a frustrated sigh.

"Pack up Granger, let's go"

"Go? Go where, we've barely gotten anything done."

"No and we're not going to until you cool off, clearly, now come on"

Hermione eyed him grumpily but packed her things none the less, when she stood up Draco grabbed her book bag and dragged her into a deserted part of the stacks

"Where are we going?" she asked confused.

"To cool you off" Draco replied with a smug smirk, before twisting them into the compression of apparition.

Before Hermione could even begin to adjust to her landing, but just after she'd released his arm, Draco gave her a tiny push and she went flying sideways into a pool. Draco used the few seconds he had before she surfaced to banish their book bags inside and contain his laughter. Hermione broke the surface with a furious look on her face "Better now, Princess?" Draco drawled pretending to inspect his nails in order to maintain a sense of dignified detachment.

"Why you, evil, ferret-faced, loathsome…..agh" Hermione fumed pulling hair out of her mouth as she tread water. Under the water she found her wand and wordlessly cast a spell that sent water splashing all over Draco in a miniature tsunami.

"Gah!" he cried jumping back in surprise.

Hermione smirked, "thought I wouldn't seek revenge?"

Narcissa Malfoy felt the wards admit Draco and a second person to their riverside home. Curious to see who her son had brought with him (as he had made few connections in the wizarding world of Brisbane) Narcissa left her sketching project and set out to find her son. As she floated through the open plan modern house she caught sight of movement outside. Making her way to the glass wall that overlooked the river and pool area she was quite shocked to see that Draco was in the pool fully clothed engaged in some kind of water fight with none other than Hermione Granger, laughing uproariously. Narcissa could not remember seeing her son laugh and smile so completely unguarded since his third year at Hogwarts, and even then it was often at someone else's expense, whereas Hermione in this instance was laughing just as much.

Draco had told her that the Granger girl was here of course, and mentioned that they had been studying together, but Narcissa was still surprised to see how open and unguarded the pair were around each other. Clearly the two had managed to put their past animosity behind them and had bonded more strongly than Draco had implied. Narcissa had never been sure what to make of Draco's relationship with Hermione. Letters home and holidays were often filled with her name. That, she supposed was to be somewhat expected of the girl who stood in his way of being top of the year, and was also best friends with his sworn enemy, but sometimes Narcissa had been left wondering if Draco was even aware just how much attention he paid the girl. Then had come his reaction to the Golden Trio's short-lived but eventful incarceration at the Manor. She had seen the recognition in her son's eyes, knew he was lying, but had long since learned what life under the rule of the Dark Lord would be, living it out in the microcosm of her home, thus she simply allowed Draco his ruse, silently hoping that it would work. Of course it hadn't, and Hermione had been tortured by her panicked and angry sister, and Narcissa had seen the look of pain that Draco's eyes betrayed as he desperately sought to conceal his emotions. She had heard his exhalation of relief as the trio escaped. At the time she had put his reaction down to fear that the Dark Lord would win and the sharp slap of reality that seeing yet more of his classmates imprisoned and tortured in his home had struck. Now however, as she observed the pair splashing and laughing and wrestling in the pool, she wondered if perhaps there was a deeper reason behind his reaction that day, one that Draco himself was not yet ready to see.

"So where are we anyway?" Hermione asked when the pair had finally climbed out of the pool laughing, and were recovering on the deck chairs.

"Welcome to the new Malfoy Manor" Draco said gesturing to the house behind them.

Hermione's eyebrow rose slightly "It's certainly brighter than the old one" she said with just a hint of snark.

"Yes…..well" Draco muttered darkly suppressing a shudder at the memory of what his childhood home had become.

"Come on, dry off and I'll give you a tour."

The house was beautiful, three storeys of white concrete built into a steeply sloping riverside block. The pool adjoined the bottom level, with a terraced garden below it and a private jetty below that. All of the river facing walls were floor to ceiling glass, and though it was on the the wrong side of the Storey Bridge the windows of lounge on the top floor were charmed to show a view of the city skyline as if one were standing atop the Kangaroo Point cliffs. The cliffs, Draco explained were in actuality on the other side of the house, less than a kilometer away, but Narcissa had wanted a real house rather than one of the apartments that were the norm on the cliff side of bridge. The layout of the house had clearly been designed to maximise the views. All of the guest bedrooms, studies and other private areas were at what was technically the front of the house (the side that faced the road), but once you entered effectively became the back. Draco and Narcissa each had a suite at one end of the house. Draco's on the second floor and Narcissa on the top. This meant that their bedrooms private bathrooms, and personal studies were still filled with light from floor to ceiling windows that wrapped both sides of the house. The rooms overlooking the river were entertaining and living spaces, a games room and library on the pool level, lounges and ballroom at the top. The white granite kitchen and open plan dining along with an equally impressive outdoor kitchen and dining area graced the second floor. This was where they found Narcissa fixing iced tea in the decidedly muggle looking kitchen. To say Hermione was taken aback would be an understatement.

"Hello mother" Draco said as he hugged his mother from behind, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Draco darling" Narcissa replied cheerfully "I trust you and your guest are feeling refreshed" Hermione's amusement increased even more as Draco actually blushed, then quickly his his reaction to his mother's subtle chastisement, leaning himself against the island bench with a decidedly casual air. Narcissa turned to Hermione giving her what appeared to be a genuinely welcoming smile.

"Miss Granger, I trust that my son has remembered his manners and is now being a good host after his earlier tomfoolery?"

Hermione bit back a giggle.

"Yes Mrs Malfoy" she said "Since leaving the pool he has been a perfect gentleman"

"I am glad" Narcissa said shooting Draco a sharp look causing him to roll his eyes.

"This is a lovely home Mrs Malfoy" Hermione said, feeling the need to placate the older witch, for despite her seemingly genuine welcome Hermione could not help but wonder how Narcissa Malfoy truly felt about having Hermione in her home.

"Isn't it just" Narcissa replied "I find the light and openness so refreshing after the Manor, which would you say is your favourite room?"

Hermione thought for a moment looking around. "Well, I Draco would expect me to say the library i'm sure, but actually I think I like this floor the best. There's a sense of home and family that comes from a kitchen that is truly part of house, and this room has it."

Narcissa filed that remark away to inspect later, she had never before lived in a house with kitchens that were on display like this one (though there was also a butler's kitchen and formal dining room on the top floor) as kitchens had always been the elves domain, and she had found herself inexplicably drawn to the room without understanding why. Perhaps Hermione's sentiments about the room were the reason. Smiling she offered each a glass of the now finished Iced Tea and snapped her fingers causing an elf to appear with a tray of cakes and finger sandwiches. Draco watched Hermione as she scanned the elf, taking note of it's healthy appearance and neat dress. She met Draco's eyes with a questioning look to which he nodded slightly indicating that yes, the elf was in fact free. The emotions that flickered across her face showed that Hermione had truly not expected that to be the case, and Draco felt slightly torn between feeling put out that she still expected their elves to be badly treated, and smug that her opinion of himself and his mother had clearly changed even more for the better. As Narcissa served tea Hermione asked about the origins of the home, suspecting rightly that it was Muggle built. Before long Hermione and Narcissa were lost in conversation talking about the different types of architecture that Australia, particularly Queensland produced. Her own parents had bought a cute renovated "Queenslander" style cottage on stilts in Red Hill, a somewhat trendy inner city suburb, and Hermione loved to spend stormy afternoons on the verandah watching the rain pelt down on the tin roofs of her neighbours. By the time she left the Malfoy home, Hermione had been shown some of Narcissa's sketching projects and invited to lunch with Narcissa the following week. Draco found he was quite relieved at how well the meeting between his mother and Hermione had gone.


	5. Chapter 5

27th April

It was at one of these lunches with Narcissa that Hermione enlisted in the older woman's help. A week earlier Hermione had told Draco that she would be going to London for a few days for the memorial, and asked him if he would like to come with her so he could spend a few days with his friends. Draco had turned stony, and quickly found an excuse to leave the library and had ignore her Cockatoo asking if he was ok. Hermione, never one to back down from a mystery was determined to find out what the issue was, and so had decided to ply Narcissa for information. What she found out saddened her greatly. Draco it seemed did not believe that he had any friends in Britain any more, A situation Narcissa explained, that she suspected was more due to his stubbornness than any true abandonment by his old housemates. Some of the Slytherins had returned to Hogwarts for seventh year, whilst others had gone abroad waiting for things to calm down a bit before testing out how they, the children of Death Eaters would be received by wizarding britain. They had for the most part re-integrated without much fuss, though the Ministry had sent them all to re-education programs. There was the occasional untrustworthy look or snarl in the street, but mostly they had been able to move on with their lives, with people accepting (with a lot of public awareness campaigning from the new Ministry) that they were not their parents, and were children who now had the chance to choose their own paths in life, there was no reason to assume that those choices would be bad before they even had a chance to act. Draco, Marcus and Adrian however had not received such understanding. They were _marked_. And though Harry Potter himself had spoken in Draco's defence and his sentence had been minimal the world was not ready to forgive as quickly as Harry. When Draco had re-appeared in the Wizarding world he was the subject of much scorn and anger, and he soon felt that it was unfair for him to exposed his friends to being branded guilty by association. He had distanced himself from them, and when they moved to Australia Draco hadn't even said goodbye.

Hermione spent the cool evening snuggled up in her favourite arm chair in her parent's small library/study thinking about Draco's self-imposed friendlessness, and decided it was time someone else did something about it. She wrote to Narcissa asking to meet again the next day, and then penned a letter to Harry. In it she asked if he could track down Draco's old friends and get them together on some pretext so that she could suss-out their feelings towards Draco when she was there. She asked Harry not to tell the Slytherin's that she was involved, to claim that Harry was investigating Draco's disappearance as part of his Auror training instead. At lunch the next day she laid out her plan.

Hermione was already waiting at the little cafe in the Red Hill high street where she had asked Narcissa to meet her. They normally lunched either in Wizarding Brisbane or one of the many restaurants along Grey and Little Stanley streets in South Bank. Today however as Hermione was leaving for London later that day, she had needed to squeeze the meeting in somewhere closer to home. When Narcissa arrived Hermione stood to greet her with their now customary hug, before jumping straight to business.

"I asked Harry to track down Draco's friends for me" she began "I'm going to meet with them whilst i'm away and tell them I know where Draco is. I am hoping that they will prove to be loyal to him and want to re-connect, and that's where I hope you can come in."

"Do continue" Narcissa said, intrigued at what the little witch was planning.

"Draco's birthday." She said looking at Narcissa with a scheming expression, "what do you say to some surprise additions to the party guestlist?"

"I think, my dear" Narcissa began shrewdly "that in another life you would have made an excellent Slytherin."

Hermione decided that that was a compliment.

Plans made, Hermione took her portkey to London with hopeful anticipation building in her chest and a stack of invitations in her trunk.

 **June 3rd 2000**

Draco's twentieth birthday party was in full swing. Narcissa had outdone herself as usual in planning her first large event for a crowd that included a large number of Muggles. Hermione and Draco had made friends with a number of students from their classes, all of whom were invited, as well as Draco's friends from a variety of clubs he had joined. There were wizards there as well, members of the local recreational Quidditch league Draco played with, and some acquaintances the pair had made at a class they were taking on Australian Wizarding law. Draco, looking impeccably cool in his Muggle dress pants and jacket over a tie-less button up was working the crowd like a pro when Hermione arrived.

Hermione was dressed in a navy blue taffeta cocktail dress which crossed over her bust and flared into a swishy skirt from the waist. Her hair was smoothed into a french twist secured with a silver and crystal comb and with her peep toe shoes of cream satin she looked very much the picture of old-Hollywood glamour. Hermione immediately sought out Narcissa to check on the status of the surprise guests, Draco's eyes however immediately caught sight of Hermione, following her everywhere seemingly of their own will; and he felt much like he had six years earlier at the Yule Ball. He'd known she was beautiful of course, it had been impossible to deny that night, and Draco knew that she had featured in many a boy's wanking fantasies afterward and for the rest of her Hogwarts years. He however was not one of them, Hermione Granger, mudblood best friend of Harry Potter had been very much off limits, and Draco had simply refused to allow himself to let her on to his radar. Now however was a different story. He hadn't been entirely joking when he said it was a shame she didn't live on campus that day she gave him a tour. The sight of her in her white cotton sundress and Roman sandals, had made him all too aware that the only reason he'd been able to keep her out of his fantasies up until now was thanks to the bland robes he was used to seeing her in. She had worked her way into his dreams that night, and he sometimes found his attention drifting in class or the library, distracted by the freckles on her tanned shoulders or the flash of thigh she would inadvertently show when she shifted in her seat, an occurrence he convinced himself was just a natural reaction to seeing so much more of her than he had been used to. Now as he watched her chatting with some of their uni friends he was finding it increasingly difficult to deny his attraction.

His blatant staring was interrupted by a voice from his right. "Don't know about you mate, but i'm having flashbacks to the Yule Ball"

"The Yule ball, dresses, soaking wet in my pool….." Draco replied trailing off. Another voice broke in.

"It took you disappearing to the other side of the planet for two years to finally realise that Granger is wank-worthy huh? Bet I know what you'll be doing in the shower tonight"

"Shut it, Theo" was his automatic response. Suddenly the knut dropped and he turned to stare at his old school friends in shock. "What the fuck are you two doing here?"

"Well gee, it's nice to see you too asshole" Blaise replied sarcastically as he lifted his hand in signal for Goyle, Daphne and Pansy to step forward.

"What…...how…." Draco spluttered.

"Blame that one" Blaise answered tilting his head in Hermione's direction. "She got Potter to pretend the Ministry were looking for you, laced us all with Veritaserum and demanded to know if we were still your friends, then gave us all invitations to this soiree."

"Well fuck me" Draco replied stunned.

"No thanks, I'd much rather try my chances with Granger" Blaise smirked

Draco growled at him. Causing Theo to sigh and slip Blaise a pile of coins as soon as he turned his attention towards the rest of his housemates.

Narcissa and Hermione each watched the scene unfold from their separate vantage points, sharing a smile across the room when Daphne instigated a group hug.


	6. Chapter 6

**July 2000**

 **29th July**

"Hermione Love, there's someone at the here for you" Helen Granger called on saturday morning.

"Coming mum" Hermione shouted from her room. Expecting Draco or one of her uni friends, Hermione staggered to a stop as she took in the messy black hair, lightning bolt scar and round glasses of her best friend. "Harry" she squealed rushing forward to give him a hug. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"As the soldiers used to say in the Muggle wars, I've got a 72 hour leave and I'm spending it with my best girl" he joked picking her up and spinning her around. "That and I'm outrunning a public holiday." he added as he put her back down.

Hermione looked at him confused. "What public holiday?"

"The public holiday that the Ministry have so thoughtfully decided to declare honouring my birthday" he replied rolling his eyes. "There's going to be a parade 'Mione. A bloody prade. They wanted me to lead the damn thing."

Hermione was rapidly losing the battle to hold in her laughter. "Oh Harry" she managed in between semi-suppressed giggles. "I'm sorry, that's just too funny. I take it nobody bothered to ask you if _you_ wanted a parade"

Harry sighed plonking himself down in the armchair he'd been sitting in when Hermione entered the lounge room. "Of course not. I even went to Kingsley trying to shut the idea down when I first heard about it. But he just looked at me and said that he was facing enough opposition in the Wizengamot as it was and as much as he felt for me he wasn't going to argue against something that would lift people's spirits and boost confidence in his leadership when he had more important things to fight. So I told him he could take his bloody parade and shove it up his"

"Harry!" Hermione cut in scandalised.

"Uh, sorry 'Mione. Anyway the important thing is he agreed to give me guaranteed time off and a portkey to wherever I wanted every birthday for as long as this ridiculous public holiday idea exists. So I'm here ready to go on one of those City Cats you've been writing about and have an insider's tour of Brisbane." Harry flashed her a smile and Hermione squealed in anticipation

"Oh I can show you where I go to uni, and we can cuddle a koala and have I told you that they have this artificial beach right in the middle of the city. I mean I know it's winter but we can still go to the beach, because the weather report said it's going to be 23 this weekend anyway, so we can definitely go and enjoy the sun at least, we could go to a real beach if you want, but I am not taking you to Dreamworld so don't even think about asking that one Harry James Potter" she said turning on him suddenly. "If you want someone to go on roller coaster and that horrid Giant Drop" she shuddered "you'll have to spend your birthday with Draco instead."

Harry paled. "No thanks, I'll stick to the koalas. I'm sure i'll be back another time and Ginny or Ron can come do the theme park thing with me instead."

"Great" Hermione said chirpily. "Have you had breakfast?"

Harry had not, so after grabbing the necessary supplies for a day out in Brisbane (namely sunscreen and hats) they set out for a day exploring the city.

Draco looked up when he heard the tapping on his window. Launching himself out of bed he crossed to the window and opened it allowing Hermione's Cockatoo Heshmon to enter his room. He grabbed a treat from the bowl mounted near the window and offered it to the bird in exchange for the scroll tied around its leg. The note was short reading simply _Drinks, Tonight, 9pm, The Wizard's rest._ The handwriting was the most confusing aspect though. Instead of Hermione's usual neat cursive it was written in a messy scrawl. Shrugging Draco guessed that she'd asked someone else to write the note for her for some reason, and went back to bed.

At nine that night Draco was sitting at the bar in the Wizard's Rest (Brisbane's equivalent of the Leaky) a glass of Bunyip Rum in front of him waiting for Hermione to arrive. Sensing someone sit down next to him he looked up, only to be greeted by the face of none other than Harry _bloody_ Potter, _the boy who lived._

"The note was from me" Harry opened, signaling to the bartender for a drink. "Since you and 'Mione are friends now and I'm in town, I thought we should meet up. Start over." He reached out his hand toward Malfoy "Hi I'm Harry" he said. Draco just stared at him in shock. Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts he slowly and reached his hand towards Harry's waiting one, not bothering to hide his suspicion. When nothing bad happened to him upon shaking hands with Boy Wonder he relaxed somewhat, but decided he'd best keep his wits about him just the same.

Half an hour later that decision had gone right out the window. It had soon become clear to both Harry and Draco that this meeting was going to need copious amounts of rum to ease the hostility and suspicion. Four drinks in and both men were now starting to open up. Draco was regaling Harry with tales of the last professional quidditch match he'd gone to see and inviting Harry to come to his footy training the following afternoon. "I might not be able to beat you to the Snitch" he said, his words slightly slurred from downing four drinks in thirty minutes "but I'm going to wipe the field with you at a muggle game" he continued poking his finger at Harry's Chest.

"P'roly right" Harry replied nodding knowingly. "I always got smashed by the kids at primary school in PE class."

 **30th July**

Harry woke up in the Granger's spare room with a pounding headache, his glasses still on his face somewhat askew and his shoes still on. Groaning he tried to shut the curtains without his wand, and failed, so he rolled over and buried his head under a pillow. Just when the pain from the morning sunlight had subsided enough that he could contemplate getting up Hermione came bounding into the room.

"Oh I still can't believe you're really here" she gushed plonking down on the bed completely oblivious to Harry's delicate state, "hurry up and get up I want to show you around uni and then we've got lunch with my friends before Draco and Steve have footy practice".

At the sound of Draco's name Harry suddenly remembered agreeing to participate in said football practice and let out an even bigger groan.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked trying to dislodge the pillow from his face.

"Malfoy" Harry mumbled.

"Oh Harry, honestly he's not that bad, he's changed a lot and if you two can just put your feud aside for a few hours I think you might even get along"

"No, not that" Harry moaned. "Football with Malfoy, he's gonna cream me."

"What are you talking about" Hermione asked, looking at his fully clothed but extremely dishevelled state for the first time "And why do you smell like the rum factory?"

Giving up on managing to get any more sleep Harry slowly removed the pillow and sat up leaning against the headboard.

"I already saw Malfoy." He said "I sent him a Cockatoo, wow, that feels weird to say, yesterday morning asking to meet at the pub last night. He thought it was from you. Anyway. We've called a truce, but I think I agreed to play football this afternoon."

"Oh Harry, that's wonderful, I'm so proud of you both" Hermione gushed "And I'm sure you will be fine, youngest seeker in a century remember"

"Yeah, but that's Quidditch not Rugby." Harry replied petulantly.

"So?" Hermione asked, "Quidditch, Rugby, Soccer, what's the difference? There are balls, you chase them, you score goals."

Harry laughed, and then instantly regretted it clutching his head in pain. "Oh Hermione" he sighed, "you're never going to understand sport are you?"

"No" she replied primly. "But I do know spells, and if you make fun of me I won't get rid of your hangover"

"Sorry 'Mione" Harry mumbled "can you do the spell please?"

"Fine" she huffed " _Aniskey_ , now go get in the shower."

After a very comprehensive tour of the UQ campus that left Harry feeling like he had learned its entire history, the pair made their way to the Great Court where they were meeting Hermione's friends for a picnic lunch before football practice.

Hermione walked to the sports fields preening impressed and excited at how well Harry and Draco were getting along. Though the pair were still clearly trying to rile each other up it was with significantly more humour and less animosity than usual, and Hermione was hopeful that given time they might form an odd sort of friendship.

 **31st July**

Since Harry had turned up in her living room two days before Hermione had been thinking. Harry was in _Australia_ for his _birthday_ , and they had _magic_. What had she been thinking limiting herself to things to do in Brisbane and the Gold Coast for Harry's birthday. They could go wherever they wanted. Australia had it's own system of magical transport that was a bit of a cross between Apparition and Floo. With a special token you could apparate anywhere within Australia by either saying the name like the floo or concentrating on an image like apparition back home. If you didn't know exactly where you wanted to go you could speak to the token and it would give you a list of apparition points within the area you wanted to travel to. It made travel much easier in a country where everything was so far away and spread out. Even better you never had to worry about Muggles seeing you as the token was charmed in a way that shielded the travellers with a notice-me-not until they were able to blend in with their surroundings. Now it was five am and Hermione had a full day of birthday adventures planned. Sneaking into the guest bedroom Hermione jumped onto Harry's bed, "Happy Birthday Harry!" She cried.

"Uh, 'Mione, what time is it?" Harry asked blearily.

Hermione decided not to answer that directly. "It's birthday time" she said. "And it's time to get up, because we've got places to go"

Harry grumbled into his pillow. "Come on Harry" Hermione urged. "I promise you, it's going to be worth the early start."

An hour later Harry ruefully had to admit that it had been worth the early start, as he and Hermione reached the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Their tour guide was pointing out landmarks and explaining history, but Harry was far more interested in the tiny speck of golden light he could see cresting over the horizon beyond Kirribilli. Nudging Hermione, he pointed it out. She smiled at him, and the pair watched mesmerized as the sky slowly turned pink, gold, and the last of the stars winked out.

Hermione was glad to be back on solid land. The Bridge climb had been worth it, and certainly not as bad as flying, but still. Besides, she was starving. After changing out of their climbing suits, they decided to apparate to the Opera Bar and save the walk for the way back, after they had eaten.

Stuffed, Harry and Hermione ambled back along the Opera House promenade towards the train station, when they reached it, Hermione grabbed Harry's arm, and tapped her Token. As the crush of Apparition dissipated Harry found himself standing on a large boat.  
"Where are we?" He asked.

"The Reef." Hermione replied. Digging through her beaded bag she pulled out a pair of swim trunks, and a bottle of sunscreen thrusting them at him. Here, you're going to need these.

Harry looked around the table with a smile. "Even if most of my birthdays hadn't been shit, I think this one would definitely top them all 'Mione" he teased.  
Hermione smile preening slightly.

"Well as you say, there were a lot of…...less than stellar birthdays to make up for. And since you're going to be spending at least the next few travelling, I figured we may as well make it really spectacular."

"Well you've certainly succeeded!" he replied toasting her with his glass of sparking wine.  
After spending the morning snorkeling on the reef, complete with buffet lunch on the boat, they had apparated to the Kimberleys where Hermione had explained that you could do a broom-flight tour, but they were sticking with the light plane thank you very much. So they had taken a one way flight through the canyons and past waterfalls before boarding a 'Tinnie' for the boat trip back, spotting Crocodiles and Brolgas and flocks of Black Cockatoos. Their final stop was Ayers Rock, where they had watched the sun set behind the giant rock, before settling in for dinner under the stars with the Rock in the background. All in all it was a spectacular day.


	7. Chapter 7

9th August 2000

"So Draco, Hermione, you guys ready for your first Ekka experience?" their friend Steve asked as they boarded the extremely crowded train at central station.

"I can't believe I'm going to the Ekka like a child instead of the races" whined Phobe a tall blonde who reminded Draco a lot of Daphne.

"Come on Phoebes it'll be fun, and we have to give these two the full experience, so you are coming on the rides" Stephanie insisted looking pointedly at Phoebe.

"As long as the full Ekka experience does not involve catching the flu" Draco said "I have heard that that is what tends to happen" he said giving a nearby coughing child the side-eye.

"Here" Hermione said handing him a small bottle "I brought sanitising gel."

The train arrived at the RNA and the crowd piled out, the group of friends struggling to stay together as they were jostled along to to ticket booths.

"Right hand over your id cards and cash" Stephanie said stepping up to the booth when they had all done so "Six students tickets please" She passed the tickets and maps out to each of the members of their little group and they moved away from the line to make a plan of attack.

Hermione felt slightly strange watching their four friends bicker and plan. She was used to being the one to make the plans, but the others had all been to the Exhibition, or Ekka as it was known, many times, and were far better equipped to determine what the "must do's were". Steve, Phoebe, Stephanie and Luke were all in her and Draco's law tutorial and often joined in their study sessions. Steve had also convinced Draco to join the uni Rugby league team and Stephanie and Luke were in Hermione's Human Rights class as well. Stephanie and Phoebe were friends from school, (having both attended the same all-girls school infamous for it's lime green uniform dresses) and whilst Phoebe was tall and blonde, Stephanie was a pocket dynamo. She was actually around the same height as Hermione with straight ash blonde hair and a slightly stocky build. She'd been on the rowing and netball teams at school and was suitably fierce, giving her the overall feel of someone you really didn't want to cross. Steve was tall with the broad build of a footy player, with short slightly curly brown hair, whilst Luke was average height with blue eyes and thick black hair that was far more cooperative than Harry's. Having evidently come up with a plan, Stephanie grabbed Draco and Hermione's hands and set off into the gates, the rest of the group following behind her.

Their first stop was side-show alley, and Hermione was thankful that Phoebe had espoused the logic of going on the rides before eating lunch. Draco of course made a beeline for the rides Hermione least wanted to go on. Ones with names like _XXL_ , _Speed 2_ and _The Freak Out_. When the ride finally stopped Hermione and Phoebe staggered off looking green, and feeling very much like they had been put in a blender on a pendulum, (which was how the ride had been described on the sign). Desperate for a break from the heights and spinning, Hermione begged that they try some of the carnival games. The others agreed and watched in amusement as Draco attempted to win each of the girls giant stuffed animals, clearly determined to get the ping pong ball into the mouth of those damn clowns, and being thwarted every time. After failing at four different games three times each, Draco was not in a good mood. Tantrum building, the other's just laughed at his naivety in assuming that the game was based on skill.

"They're rigged mate" Steve laughed "I know you've never been to a carnival before but everyone knows that"

Draco huffed, "Come on Granger" he said grabbing her arm, "let's go check out that haunted house, that'll cheer me up. We can sneak up on this lot and give them a proper scare".

After the haunted house Stephanie informed them that they had to go watch the sheep shearing and wood chop competitions, because boring as they were it was part of the traditional Ekka experience. As they walked to the correct pavilion Draco held Hermione back a bit.

"Do Muggles really think that shite is scary?" he asked incredulously.

"Some do" Hermione shrugged, "but mostly Haunted Houses are just about having fun letting yourself feel scared even if they aren't really that scary."

"Huh. Why were the witches green?"

"It's a bit of a Muggle stereotype, based on a witch in a classic Children's book and movie. But Witches in the muggle world tend to be depicted as ugly old hags with warts on their noses. When I first got my Hogwarts letter I was a little bit worried that I'd suddenly develop warts and grow a long nose."

Draco scoffed, "Warts, ridiculous."

The group suffered through the Woodchop and sheep shearing, making things a bit more interesting by placing bets and making ridiculous predictions, then set off in search of lunch. Steve tried to convince Draco to try a dagwood dog but Draco took one look at the battered frankfurt on a stick smothered in ketchup and told him he would rather eat Steve's footy socks. He did however agree to a traditional strawberry ice-cream cone from the strawberry stand. After lunch the group split up agreeing to meet at the doors for the showbag pavilion at five. Hermione spent the afternoon wandering through the pavilions admiring the giant vegetables (admittedly nowhere near as large as Hagrid's Halloween pumpkins) and the jam, cake and craft competition entries. Phoebe dragged Stephanie with her to the fashion show and the boy's jumped on the chairlift to head back to sideshow alley.

When they met back at the showbag pavilion each of the three boys was laden down with giant stuffed animals. "Draco decided he was playing until he won" Luke explained. "There's one for each of you" Draco looked smug as the girls were each gifted with giant toys, at least until Hermione whispered "you confounded them didn't you" in his ear.

"No" he hissed in reply

"Alright, so what spell did you use?"

"Wingardium and acio" he admitted, Hermione just looked at him and sniggered.

"Well as payback for saddling me with this" Hermione said pointing to the pink Unicorn she had been given "you can carry my showbags for me, and then hide them at your house".

Draco looked at her confused, until she opened one and showed him what was inside.

"Dentists for parents remember?"


	8. Chapter 8

**September 2000**

16th September

 _Be dressed and ready by 8.30 am._ The note from Draco sent her had said, so at 8.29, when he knocked on the Granger's front door it immediately swung open, Hermione standing on the other side of the threshold wearing that white sundress that haunted Draco's …...alone time. _Focus, Draco. Look imperious._ He felt the expression on his face shift back to haughty indifference. _Nice save_.

"Hey" Hermione greeted chirpily "I assume you have something planned?" she paused observing his outfit, Red knee length shorts, a white cotton shirt and an open navy blazer, with navy boat shoes. "Holy Merlin, you have knees" she exclaimed in mock surprise having never seen Draco in shorts before.

"Ha ha, Granger" Draco drawled "Come on adventures await."

Hermione called out a goodbye to her parents and followed Draco to the old laneway they used to apparate. "Where are we going?" she asked excitedly.

"Surprise." Draco responded "Hold on" he added offering his arm for her to side-along.

When the world righted itself they were standing on a pontoon in a large marina Hermione looked at Draco quizzically but he simply started walking along the narrow pontoons heading for their destination. After a few minutes he stopped. "See that yacht there?" he asked "The one called Circe's Rest"

"Yeah" Hermione replied looking at the large catamaran in the last slip. She could see there were four people on board but she couldn't make out the details. Draco handed her a pair of binoculars that he'd had shrunken in his blazer pocket. "I think they're waving at us" he said.

Hermione shot him a confused look, but took the binoculars nonetheless. Draco angled himself so that he could see her reaction.

Magnified eyes scanning, hands adjusting the focus, jaw drop. Yep there it is.

Hermione dropped her hands down, but her eyes stayed bugged out of her head. "It's Ginny" she exclaimed staring at Draco in shock.

"Well you'd better go say hello then" Draco stated completely calm.

Hermione stared at him open mouthed for another few seconds, before running off down the pontoon calling the red-head's name.

Draco followed slowly shaking his head in amusement at her. When he caught up to her she was on board the yacht squealing and hugging Ginny, and Luna who had been at the other end of the boat to Ginny when Hermione spotted the redhead. Blaise and Theo were leaning against the back of the cabin. "Hey captain" Theo called with a upwards nod. Draco boarded the yacht climbing the stairs to the main deck where he greeted his friends with a handshake and one of those weird half hug half clap on the back things that guys do. "Zabini, Nott ready for a week of sun?"

"Hell yes" Theo replied. "Might even manage to get you a tan bro."

"What are you two doing here?" Hermione squealed embarrassing her friends.

"Ferret boy arranged it" Ginny replied as if she still wasn't quite sure she was prepared to accept Malfoy doing something nice. "Apparently you surprised him with his friends for his birthday, so he's doing the same for you. Since it involved seeing you, and a week on this _amazing_ boat, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt"

"A week!" Hermione squealed rounding on Draco, "but, but, I haven't got any clothes"

"Taken care of, your mum packed them for me"

"What about class? It's the middle of term!"

"Granger" Draco said grabbing her arms and looking at her sternly "I know this is a new concept for you, but unlike Scarhead and Weasel your uni friends are actually capable of taking decent notes." His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper "and the lectures are online" he added.

Hermione took a couple of deep breaths as Draco dropped his arms. "Ok, you're right"

"Come on Mione" Ginny interjected grabbing her hand, let's go see what it's like to live like a bajillionare".

The yacht really was fit for a bajillionare. The bottom level housed four of the Six full size cabins each with ensuites, the aft two had hatches for direct access to the swim deck. On the main level were the other two cabins, each opening onto a sun lounge furnished mini-deck. Behind them was the massive galley with saloon seating for ten that opened out to a covered outdoor area, also large enough for a table for ten followed by a drop down swim pontoon. And the _piece de resistance_ above it all, the massive fly deck equipped with a full outdoor kitchen another ten seater table, lounge area and the ability to sail the boat entirely from within. If sailing got boring, the saloon wall housed a full sized tv, and multiple shelves worth of books, DVDs and games, the Bose sound system was able to play different music in each zone of the yacht simultaneously, and should the weather heat up drastically it was air conditioned throughout. "Wow" Ginny breathed running her hands along the granite bench tops in the bridge deck galley as they gathered in the saloon at the end of their tour, "reckon I can convince Harry to buy one of these?"

"Good luck" Hermione chortled.

"Ahh well, at least I get to experience it for a week."

"You said this thing's magical altered right Draco? Surely there are extension spells on the cabins and in here" Theo said gesturing around the bridge deck.

"Nope. Completely unnecessary. It's actually just this spacious. Though there are points in each room where you can tap your wand and the room will enlarge if you want it to. " Draco replied "The company hires to Muggles as well so everything is defaulted to the "muggle worthy" setting, but seeing as it's really just this big, the extension charms are pretty unnecessary. The real magical altering is more for things like stocking the galley." He added gesturing around "The cupboards and refrigerator are linked to the kitchens at the hire company. Cooking is optional, you can just order from the elves, but if you want to cook just think of the ingredients you want and how many people you are cooking for whilst you press your wand to this wand point and the cupboards will stock themselves."

"Oh we'll be cooking" Blaise interjected with a look that said the subject was closed. "I can't wait to test this baby out." He added running his hands lovingly along the oven door.

The three girls shot him quizzical looks.

Draco answered the unasked question "Blaise is what I believe is called a closet foodie, he's always looking for opportunities to show of his culinary skills."

"Awesome" Ginny said with a smile.

"Uh I have a question" Hermione said her hand in the air "does anyone actually know how to sail?"

"Ah glad you asked Granger" Theo cut in with a smirk

"Oh, you do?" Hermione asked hopefully

"Nope" he replied popping the p. "But you will soon" and with that he dropped a pile of sailing books on the table in front of Hermione.

Ginny and Luna had to hide their giggles, though the boys were less subtle.

"Oh har har" Hermione replied with a miffed edge to her voice, though she picked up the top book anyway

"the boat sails itself, we can sail it by hand, but again that's optional" Draco clarified. "Though I'm sure Hermione will have us all sailing the muggle way by day three"

"You'd miss half the fun of a yachting holiday if you didn't sail" Hermione replied scandalised.

"Alright" Theo said, plopping a map down on the table, "where to first?"

They spent the day testing out every aspect of the boat, exploring both it and the waters of Hervey Bay where they were sailing, their first whale sighting around lunchtime had them all watching in awe as the magnetic creatures slammed their tails down onto the water, feeling pretty superior to the tourists packed onto the commercial whale watching tour boats as they had by far the better vantage point. In the early afternoon they dropped anchor just off the back of Fraser Island and decided it was time for a swim.

Ginny found Hermione in her cabin staring at her luggage on her bed with concern and biting her lip apprehensively. "You coming 'Mione?" She asked coming to stand by her friend. Hermione turned to look at Ginny, self-doubt written all over her face.

"My mum got me new swimsuits" she said

"Which has you looking all scared because…..?"

"They're all bikinis"

"I'm still not seeing the problem here, 'Mione"

Hermione's eyes filled with unshed tears "what if they make fun of my scars?" She asked in a small voice.

"Oh 'Mione" Ginny replied wrapping the older girl up in a hug. When she pulled back she put on her best no nonsense expression and added "if, they do, and according to you Malfoy wouldn't do that anymore, but if they do, then you will look them dead in the eye and say "oh that? I just got that defeating a bunch of Voldemort's top death eaters including your fathers'" Ginny said pretending to point at Theo and Draco, "when I was sixteen and they tried to kill me. The first time.'" She finished with a wolfish grin. "And should they continue to tease you, then I will hex them and we can laugh at them while they spend the rest of the day sneezing gooey green bats".

Hermione shot Ginny a grateful smile. "Thanks Gin, I've missed you".

"I've missed you too, now get that perky but into this bikini and be out on the swim deck in three minutes" the redhead replied heading out the door.

Hermione kept the kaftan her mother had packed on until she reached the swim deck. Ginny and Luna were waiting on the aft deck for her, the boys came barging past.

"No fancy top things Granger" Theo called, "Draco might get to see you in those perky little sundresses all the time now, but I know for a fact that Zabani here has been dying to see what was under your robes since fourth year" he leered waggling his eyebrows.

"Shove off Nott" Blaise replied laughing

Hermione swallowed thickly and looked to Ginny and Luna for support, the other girls coming and standing just behind so they were flanking her, and slowly removed the kaftan, her eyes squeezed shut. Luna and Ginny eyeing the three ex-Slytherins dangerously.

"Right, well, last one in is a blast ended skrewt" Theo called, shoving Blaise out of his way and making a dash for the water. Hermione let out a shaky breath as Ginny squeezed her hand and then followed the boys into the water.

While they were all jumping in and splashing around Hermione forgot all about her scar, but as the others started to head inside she hung back, waiting for everyone to head inside before she got out. Theo was the last, just as he reached the bridge deck doors and Hermione thought she would risk getting out, he stopped and turned back to face her.

"Hey Granger" he called "You fought a war, you helped remove a whole heap of assholes from society, don't let whoever it was who gave you that have power over your life. They're either rotting in Azkaban or dead, they can't hurt you now unless you let them with your self-doubt." And with that he put a hand on his back, murmured something and turned to go, the sun glinting off the water droplets on his back showing a series of scars crisscrossing his back, some hairline thin and some the size of her little finger. Theo had dropped the glamour that covered the legacy of his father's wrath.

Around four pm they pulled into their anchorage for the night, Rooney's Point on the back side of Fraser island. "It's so beautiful here" Ginny mused from their position on the bow, checking the anchor chain rolled out correctly. "Except" she squeaked suddenly slapping her arms erratically, "for the mosquitoes!"

"Culicidae tegere maxima" Hermione intoned, and a light orange glow enveloped the boat like a bubble filling and then fading from sight. "No more mozzies" Hermione smiled.

"Oh, awesome" Ginny sighed. Suddenly the boat rocked violently "Woah what was that?" Ginny asked as Luna clapped with glee, before skipping over to the trampoline, and lying down face first making moaning noises.

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other incredulously, when suddenly something moaned back. The reason for Luna's moaning became clear as a pair of Humpback whales appeared swimming directly between the hulls of the yacht.

"Woah" Ginny breathed as a whale breached just next to where she was standing. Luna's hare patronus went hopping off to let Theo, Draco and Blaise know, as she explained that they were anchored right on the edge of a trench that the whales liked to use as a sort of slipstream. The boys soon arrived from their various locations throughout the yacht and the group took the opportunity to slip into the water and swim alongside the whale pair.

They ate on the fly deck that night, a casual Aussie barbecue, salads, rolls, prawns, steak and beer onions, finished off with pavlova. "Ahh this is the life" Ginny sighed taking a sip of her wine as she lay sprawled out on the fly deck lounges. "Good wine, friends, yummy cheese"

"The song of the whales" Luna cut in.

"And a crystal clear sky" Draco finished.

"Aren't the stars here all different?" Theo asked, regretting it slightly when Draco launched into a Hermione like lecture on southern hemisphere astronomy charming the roof of the flydeck invisible so that he could point things out.

"alright Professor star-boy" Blaise joked "this is a holiday, no learning allowed, except for Granger who has to teach us all to sail, how many of those books have you read today?" he added looking over at Hermione.

"Oh, just three" she replied nonchalantly.

"Just three?" Balise replied, eyebrows rising. "Sweet salazar she's like one of those muggle half human half machine things"

"A robot?" Hermione inquired

"Yeah, a row-bot. Seriously who reads that fast, even Nott here can only read one book a day and he's almost as much of a swot as you"

"Hey, there is nothing wrong with being educated," Theo cried with an elbow to Blaise's ribs. "I'm thinking about taking a leaf out of your book actually" he continued looking at Draco and Hermione who were curled up next to each other, Hermione leaning against Draco's propped up legs. "There's a wizarding university in Austria that has a great runes and languages program. I'm going to put in an application for January enrollment."

"That's great man" Draco said pleased for his friend "What about you, Zabini? Going to join us as lowly university students, or are you too attached to your aristocratic playboy lifestyle?" he ribbed.

"Lowly university students" Hermione laughed spinning around to look at Draco "You mister" she said poking him in the chest "are the very definition of a trust fund playboy, Luke is going to have a field day teasing you when he finds out about this" she added gesturing to the yacht "especially since he's going to assume you flew our friends here for the week."

"Is it expensive to fly?" Luna piped up serenely "I'd quite like to try it."

"Well it's expensive to fly from Britain to here" Hermione responded, "and trust me you don't want to try that flight. wizarding travel is definitely superior to long haul flights. It takes about 22 to 26 hours to fly from here to London depending on stopovers. Stick with something nice and short like London to Edinburgh" she said "you'll get to experience all the fun parts, without the horrible parts like airline food and having people climb all over you every time they want to go to the loo" she said with a tone that suggested personal experience.

"I've been on a plane" Blaise interjected. "The food was great, good booze too with a bar you could hang out at or in seat service. And the chair converted into this little bed in a pod thing, with one of those tee-vee's. I could have happily spent 26 hours on a plane."

Hermione just sighed and rolled her eyes. "That's because you were flying first class, not economy like the normal people have to" she huffed muttering under her breath about being surrounded by spoiled brats.

"Well anyway. I've started putting together a group to look into the feasibility of being able to broadcast Quidditch games with pictures, like the muggles do. I'm interested in talking to your brother actually" Blaise said looking to Ginny. "I've been trying to owl him, but I haven't gotten a reply. I'd like to have his input on the team."

Ginny looked sad for a moment. "George hasn't really been doing much inventing the last few years. He still finds it hard not having Fred to share ideas with. But I can let him know. It would probably be good for him to meet some other people and have a project to work on."

"Well then" Draco said "looks like we've all got grown up lives now." he lifted his glass in a toast action.

"And grown up attitudes to go with it" Ginny added having been happily surprised at the only light-hearted banter that had ensued so far despite the mixing of Slytherins and the DA girls.

"To being grown ups, and being free to make our own damn choices in life" Theo proposed

"New beginnings?" Hermione suggested.

"Whatever" Theo replied with a shrug as they raised their glasses together.

17th September

"Ginevra Weasley!" Hermione shouted completely shocked at what she was seeing "You are engaged! to my best friend! Why are you flirting shamelessly with Blaise?" she continued in a hiss dragging Ginny away from the Slytherin in question.

"Oh, umm, wait here a second and i'll be back to explain" Ginny replied, escaping Hermione's grip and rushing off into the girls side of the hull.

She returned a minute later with an envelope that looked suspiciously like a howler only not smoking

"What's that?" Hermione asked carefully

"This," Ginny said proudly "is George's latest invention, It works like a howler in that it speaks it's message, but it's for regular mail, it's a bit like that voice message thingy you have on your phone"

"Okay" Hermione replied trepidatiously.

"Don't worry, it's not going to yell or blow up" Ginny assured her.

Still not quite convinced, Hermione took the envelope gingerly and opened it, whilst the others looked on equally cautious.

Harry's voice filled the saloon

"Umm, Hey Mione.

So this is a bit umm awkward, but ahh Ginny has theses fantasies see…umm, about the Slytherin's, and well, we've made a deal that as long as I don't have to hear **any** details, she can take any opportunity that uh, comes up….so to speak. Ah so, yeah. have a fun trip."

"Ooh isn't Harry sweet" Luna said staring off dreamily "I hope I marry a man who's happy to let me indulge in group sex with his ex-enemies"

Everyone stared. Except Ginny, who was looking desperately for an escape route.

"Uh, Luna, what makes you think that Harry was implying a ummm… group thing?" Blaise spluttered

"Oh Ginny's told me all about her Slytherin fantasies, we used to talk about them during History of Magic"

Hermione turned to look at Ginny, gauging her reaction to Luna's candor. The boys were staring at Ginny with expressions of barely contained curiosity, and lust. Theo's jaw had literally dropped.

"Right." Hermione said once everyone had recovered slightly, "I think we should all refrain from telling Ron."

The three Slytherins shot each other glances, she could see plotting in the glint in their eyes.

"And before you three get any ideas" Hermione continued pointing at them "Consider this. You won't just have Ron's reaction to deal with, you will also have to deal with Harry, Ginny, and Me." she emphasised the last word turning the finger she'd kept raised to her own chest. "And did I ever tell you about the time I kept Rita Skeeter in a jar?" she finished all mock sweetness.

"Or about Umbridge" Luna added dreamily "I hear she had to spend time in St Mungo's because she kept hearing Centaur hoofs wherever she went and would just start screaming"

"Ooh! And don't forget Marietta Edgecombe's face" Ginny added with a chuckle "That was brilliant"

Three faces turned to look at Hermione and gulped

Hermione smirked. "There's a muggle saying, _What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas._ I propose we make a wizard's oath. What happens on this boat, stays on this boat, agreed?"

The boys looked at each other, Draco gave a slight nod, and they all put their wands into the centre of the group. "Agreed" they said in unison.

"Good" Hermione said connecting her wand with theirs and chanting the incantation. "Carry on Ginny" she added with a nonchalant wave over her shoulder "I'm going for a swim."


	9. Chapter 9

19th September

Dawn broke on Hermione's birthday to reveal a perfectly clear blue sky. The weather report was for one of those typical Queensland days that made locals wonder why they bothered to pretend they had seasons when really they just had hot, less hot and very very hot. Hermione emerged from her cabin to find the saloon of the yacht decorated in shimmering streamers and dozens of balloons, which started playing "Happy Birthday" as she entered the room. Hearing the decorations play, Blaise popped his head up the stairwell from the boy's hull. "Do not even think about finding yourself breakfast missy" he said "you are getting fresh baked _cornetto ripieno all'albicocca_ , as soon as I've had a shower" he added before disappearing below deck again. Not sure what to do with herself whist she waited for Blaise to work his culinary magic, Hermione poured herself some juice, grabbed a handful of strawberries and set out to sun herself on the trampoline. On the forward deck she found Luna singing to the whales and plaiting seaweed into an elaborate crown. "Happy Birthday 'Mione" she said placing the seaweed crown onto Hermione's head.

"Uh, thanks Luna" hermione said sitting down and touching the crown warily. Ginny appeared behind them and after giving Hermione a big hug the girls spent the next twenty minutes relaxing in the warm morning sun.

Blaise's voice rang out interrupting the girls reviere. "Your birthday breakfast banquet awaits, _Caramellino_ ". The bridgedeck table had been set up and was heavily laden with breakfast dishes. Frittata, fresh dinner rolls, both plain with a selection of jams or stuffed with herby eggs, a platter of prosciutto wrapped rockmelon, salmon or leg ham crostinis and a platter full of what looked like croissants with a jammy apricot center. Draco greeted Hermione with a kiss on the cheek whispering birthday wishes in her ear before, handing her a mimosa and pulling out her chair. Ginny watched this little interaction closely. After three days in their company, she was starting to wonder if perhaps Hermione and Draco were not quite the just friends they claimed to be. Not that she thought anything had happened yet, but she'd happily put her galleons on something happening soon, it was pretty obvious that the pair were dancing around each other. She wondered if perhaps there might be a much more steamy birthday kiss before the end of the day. She spent most of brekfast trying to come up with a plan to get Hermione and Draco alone together, whilst not appearing suspicious. She didn't get very far however, as their brunch party was crashed by a very adorable baby whale eating breakfast of it's own, It's mother flipped over with her tail in the air and stomach to the sky whilst the baby nursed. Well, Ginny thought wryly, birthday snog or no birthday song, it's clearly going to be a pretty unforgatable day.

An hour later the group had traded their champagne glasses for Champagne Pools, the tide was just coming in enough to cause the bubbling effect that gave the pools their name, without too much spray coming over the rocks. As a bonus since it was still early in the morning it wasn't inundated with tour busses yet, so they were able to swim and enjoy the spa effect in relative peace. When the waves started getting too big, the group apparated to Eli Creek. After a few attempts to float down the river by themselves, Ginny and Blaise suddenly appeared with six inflatable rings.

"Where did you get those?" Theo asked.

"What these? Had them the whole time what are you talking about" Ginny tried.

Hermione shot her the look she would always give Harry and Ron when she knew they were lying.

"Oh all right, we might have 'borrowed' one from a little kid and gemino'ed it while he was off searching for it. But we gave it back." Ginny huffed.

"Remind me to keep an eye on you two." Hermione muttered. "This combination is trouble." but she secretly enjoyed having a ring to use as they raced each other down the river, causing more ruckus than most of the kids.

In the middle of the day they apparated back to the boat for lunch and escaped the worst of the heat with Hermione giving them their second sailing lesson. They managed to tack successfully this time, having ended up in an accidental jybe the previous day, and everyone was starting to get a much better idea what Hermione was talking about when she called out things like "reef in the mainsail" or "we're going to to sail on a beam reach". The weather being calm and clear meant that many of their drills had to be supplemented with a little artificial wind, but they had fun trying out different techniques and learning their way around the boat. Draco was enjoying it so much he thought he might buy a boat, something smaller though that he could play around with on the river or Moreton Bay. Hermione assured him that yachting was actually a very fitting hobby for a trust fund playboy as she had nicknamed him after the first night, along with rowing which Draco had ruled out upon learning of the early morning start times, and sports called Polo, and Lacrosse which sounded almost as fun as quidditch but apparently wasn't very popular in Australia.

By three o'clock they were all ready for another swim, this time they took supplies, deck chairs and kayaks shrunk down into a beach bag. When they landed on the end of the path to Lake Makenzie Luna was the first to speak.

"It seems a bit busier than the picture in the brochure suggested it would be." she remarked.

"Just a bit" Theo quipped, looking around the pure white sand for a free spot. "I guess we could go over there" he said dejectedly pointing at a spot squished in between a busload of Japanese tourists, a young family and a group of giggling schoolgirls.

"I've got a better idea" Hermione announced, "Grab on everyone" when everyone had a finger on her or her apparition token, she spoke their new destination.

They opened their eyes to a setting that looked almost identical, except there was only one other group of people there. The beach and lake were otherwise empty but identical from the pure white sand to the crystal clear lake slowly progressing from diamond white to deep navy in a natural ombre. On the far end of the beach a couple of dingoes wandered. "What happened to all the people?" Blaise asked.

"Nothing happened to them" Hermione laughed. "This is a different lake. I found it in the guidebook on the boat, Lake Mackenzie's the famous one, so everyone goes there, even though this lake is exactly the same."

"Idiots" Ginny scoffed.

"Lucky we've got Granger to read the guidebook" Theo agreed, and they set out to enlarge their supplies and make themselves comfortable on their piece of untouched paradise.

Hermione, curled up on a deck chair with a book, while Ginny, Draco and Blaise went Kayaking. Theo kept Luna distracted after noticing that she was walking dreamily over towards the Dingoes, more having appeared from the scrub. He herded her back away from the wild dogs, casting a barrier shield along the depth of the beach to keep them away. He'd read up about this island when Draco had invited him and knew those things regularly surrounded backpackers and children off on their own, and that it was rare people got away in one piece. Even with a wand, he wasn't keen on Luna going near them, that girl was a little too much like Hagrid sometimes, thinking dangerous animals cute. Better she stuck to her invisible magical creatures than end up as dingo tucker.

23rd September

Their last morning on the yacht breakfast was interrupted by the arrival of an standard Australian post cockatoo. The bird screeched it's arrival shrilly before holding out it's foot and saying "letter for Malfoy, letter for Malfoy, squawk" Blaise, Theo, Ginny and Luna having not seen the post arrive in Australia before looked on in bemusement. Draco grabbed some apple from the fruit platter and tossed it to the bird in exchange for the envelope attached to it's leg. The letter from Pansy, dated three days earlier read

Draco,

I hope this reaches you in time, if not I shall tell you myself when I see you

for Riverfire. This was in the Prophet yesterday, I thought you should know.

See you on Saturday.

Pans.

Behind the note was page 4 of Tuesday's Daily Prophet.

 **Malfoy Manor Destroyed**

 _Last night Malfoy Manor, the ancestral home of the Malfoy family and headquarters for Lord Voldemort during the final year of the Second Wizarding War was destroyed by arsonists. The suspects are believed to be part of a vigilante group who have been vandalising sites known to be related to Voldemort. Previously a muggle graveyard in Little Hangleton was graffitied and Hogwarts school has received anonymous letters demanding that Tom Riddle's award for special services to the school be removed. It is believed that the fire at Malfoy Manor got out of hand as a result of the residue of so much dark magic. Lucius Malfoy is currently serving a five year sentence in Azkaban, neither Narcissa nor Draco Malfoy have been seen in Britain since last year._

Draco read the article then placed the page on the middle of the table before standing to leave. Hermione quickly skimmed it (along with everyone else) shot Blaise and Theo a concerned look and the three followed in the direction the Draco had gone. They found him sitting at the captain's chair on the top level of the yacht. "Hey" Theo began gently. "You ok?"

Draco laughed bitterly. "I know I should be angry or something, but honestly, i'm fucking relieved." he said staring straight ahead to the horizon. "That's weird right"

Theo shrugged "Not so much, I'd probably feel the same if my place burnt down and it was never the Dark Lord's bloody summer home" Draco and Theo shared a look of solidarity, ancestral holdings be damned, neither of them held any fondness for the Manors they were both technically master of. Theo also refused to live in his, preferring a rented London townhome to the site of his childhood abuse.

"That place stopped being your home a long time ago mate" Blaise added "I think it's alright to not care."

"You know." Hermione began thoughtfully. "The vandals probably did you a favor"

The other's turned to look at her surprised.

"Well" she continued, "you couldn't sell it, who would want to buy it other than some Voldemort sympathiser and even they would surely realise that such a move would have the Aurors on their tail faster than you could say _sold_. It was just sitting there useless, worthless unless you wanted to live in it, which you don't. Even if you did, it would need an tremendous amount of repair and I don't know that you could ever really restore the energy to something you would want to spend time in. _Now_ you get an insurance payout and a fresh start. You can re-build in the same spot, build on a different part of the lands or do something completely different like turn the whole estate into a wildlife park or something."

She could see the cogs ticking in Draco's mind.

"Has anyone ever told you you're brilliant?" he asked.

"Brightest witch of my age" Hermione replied flippantly, "now come on let's go for a swim before we have to head back to civilisation and return this _beautiful_ boat".

That afternoon they returned the yacht to the marina, sent their luggage ahead with the travel agent's delivery service and apparated back to the Malfoy's. Narcissa was in full swing ordering around the house elves and checking on platters of food for their Riverfire party that night. "Ah Draco" she announced when they arrived, "I need you to give the elves instructions for what you want to do with the rooftop".

Turning to the others she embraced Hermione earning raised eyebrows from Ginny and Luna. Theo and Blaise both greeted Narcissa with a kiss on her hand before Theo standing in for Draco who had already headed to the roof, played host and introduced Ginny and Luna.

"We've met before" Luna stated dreamily as if their previous meeting had been at the theatre and not due to Luna's imprisonment in the older witch's cellar. Theo was sure that was the first (and likely only) time he had ever seen Narcissa struggle for words. Asking Hermione to give the ladies a tour she quickly set off to the kitchen to chase up one of the elves, clearly unsure how to react to Luna's serenity.

At five pm the three girls were giggling together in Draco's bathroom which Hermione had commandeered arguing that it was the largest and therefore all three of them could get ready at the same time, Draco had muttered something under his teeth about witches and Blaise had laughed calling him whipped before setting off to primp himself. Hermione was happily reminded of the night of Slughorn's christmas party, though she wasn't sure that this night would end quite the way that one had.

"Harry!" Ginny squealed running to her fiance and jumping into his arms, her black and gold-glitter party dress swirling around her.

Hermione rolled her eyes leaving the couple to a snog and turning to greet Ron instead.

"It's good to see you " she whispered embracing him in a chaste hug. Ron seemed to blush somewhat and look slightly guilty, but covered it up quickly.

"You too 'Mione. How was the boat? Looks like you all got plenty of sun."

Indeed Hermione was sporting an even tan and a few more freckles were visible on her shoulders, in her burgundy halter-necked dress. Luna was dressed in an off white antique lace shift dress and combat boots, the colour that would normally leave her washed out and ghost like instead simply made her look ethereal.

"It was brilliant" Hermione gushed. "Really wonderful."

Draco glanced anxiously at the clock, pulling his attention away from Daphne and Pansy who were insisting on being invited next time he decided to go sailing, having hear all the fun details from Theo and Blaise, and jealously admired the girl's tans. "Time to go to the roof Ladies" he cut in, interrupting Daphne trying to convince Pansy that actually her tight fitting, long sleeved silver-black dress would look ridiculous with a tan and her pale skin was just perfect,. They followed after him as he gathered everyone up ushering those who weren't their already up to the roof. Daphne was now complaining that she however could do with a tan, since she was wearing an off-white strapless dress that had strange silver circles across the bodice. Draco ignored her, searching the roof for Hermione. Ah, there . She was standing with her friends leaning against the balcony railing the elves had set up . Once Draco was certain that everyone was on the roof he slipped out his wand and cast the spell. Slowly so as not to startle anyone the (notice-me not-charmed) platform they were all standing on started to rise. As the guests noticed that the rooftops of the neighbouring houses were suddenly below them gasps started to fill the crowd. Still watching Hermione, Draco saw her look around the crowd catching his mother's eye who shrugged elegantly. She resumed her searching until her eyes met his, shooting him a questioning look. He nodded once, indicating that yes, this was his handiwork, and she shook her head smiling at him fondly.

Draco preened as the night sky was suddenly vibrating with the noise of the two F1-11's zooming over the platform, before the whole sky erupted in a riot of colour. Riverfire had started.


	10. Chapter 10

Nine pm saw all the younger guests , hanging out in the games room on the lower floor, whilst the adults held some stuff ball on the top floor. Pansy, Daphne and Ginny were leafing through Australian fashion magazines, Theo, Hermione, Draco and Blaise were playing billiards, Ron and Harry were testing out the rock-em-sock-em Robots table and Luna was insisting that the darts were actual some magical creature that would hit the bullseye only if you spoke to them in the correct ancient language.

"How good would one of these be at Hogwarts?" Blaise asked as he sank a ball in the top left pocket.

"I could see that" Draco mused as he lined up his shot. "We snakes would have the pool tables, and the Gryffindorks over there could have one of those" he nodded towards the Robots table,"something that reflects their mental capacity. All brawn and no strategy"

"Oi!" Ron protested "I'll remind you lot that won 50 points for Gryffindor for the best played game of chess Hogwarts had seen in years. When we were eleven."

"And" Harry chimed in "we figured out and destroyed all of Voldemort's horcruxes with nothing more than a book of children's stories, an old snitch and Dumbledore's deluminator. But sure, we can't do strategy."

"They've got you there Draco" Hermione added.

He shot her a betrayed look "You're supposed to be on my team, witch."

"For Billards, not for your petty school rivalries" she replied rolling her eyes and taking her shot.

"I hope it is like this at Hogwarts one day" Luna announced coming over to watch Harry and Ron, "all the houses together, being friends" she continued looking around wistfully. "It reminds me of the DA, only with Slytherins".

"And without the whole training to fight a war bit" Ron added shaking his head. He still struggled to get Luna sometimes.

"I doubt it's going to happen anytime soon" Daphne piped up, "no one wanted to be seen dead with the Slytherin's when we went back for eighth year."

"Yeah, but then we didn't have somewhere like this where everyone could hang out together" Ginny added. "Let's face it, the school isn't exactly designed to help promote house unity."

"Red's got a point" Blaise said handing his cue to Theo for the next turn "no one outside Slytherin even knows where the Dungeons door is."

"Yeah we do" Ron laughed, "Malfoy himself let us in second year"

"WHAT?!" The ex-Slytherin's yelled as one (even Malfoy) all tuning to send traitors glares at the blonde.

"I did no such thing!" Draco retorted scandalised.

"Yeah you did." Harry stated matter of factly.

"I think I would remember letting my enemies into the common room" Draco denied.

"Not if they were Polyjuiced" Ginny interjected with a smirk.

"Come off it Red" Balise said. "Where would a couple of second years get Polyjuice from?"

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Luna all turned to look pointedly at Hermione

"Uh, brightest witch of my age…?" Hermione said with a blush.

"Wow" Theo breathed looking at her in awe

"Brewed it in Myrtle's bathroom" Ron bragged "disguised ourselves as Crabbe and Goyle"

Recognition dawned in Draco's eyes "so that's why he was wearing glasses" Draco muttered darkly, "it was you" he accused pointing at Harry.

Harry held his arms out to the side and shrugged "guilty as charged."

At some point during the night everyone had decided that negotiating the stairs and finding the guest rooms was far too difficult to manage, instead an elf had been summoned to set up mattresses on the floor of the games room. When Ron awoke the next morning the first thing he saw was definitely the last thing he wanted to see first up in the morning. "Harry" he hissed, poking his best mate who was cuddling his sister nearby _Ugh. make that two things he didn't want to see._

"What?" Harry replied sleepily

"Look at that" Ron hissed pointing at a lumpy shape Harry couldn't really see. Feeling around for his glasses Harry sat up and squinted in the direction Ron was pointing. It turned out that the lump was actually Hermione…...snuggled up like a little spoon with Malfoy.

"Huh" Harry said clearly unconcerned. Ron however was concerned. Not about Hermione dating, he'd long ago come to the realisation that Hermione had been right. When his mother had taken longer to recover from their breakup than Ron had it had been pretty obvious that a lot of people had simply expected them to live happily ever after just because they had always been close. The reality, as they had slowly discovered, but been loath to admit during their year together after the war, had been even more fighting than the rows that their friendship was infamous for. Ron had felt even more inferior against Hermione's intelligence. She had felt increasingly frustrated with how much like Molly Ron wanted her to be. They both had major psychological (and physical) scars from the war that would throw their problems in their face at unexpected times. Hermione's scar and nightmares made Ron feel like a failure for not being able to stop Bellatrix torturing her. Ron leaving for months when they were on the run had Hermione constantly wondering if their next fight would be the one that sent him storming out again. No, he'd long ago accepted that they were better as friends. He had dated around for a while and was now happily involved with a girl he'd met at a Quidditch game Ginny had gotten him tickets to, and he knew Hermione had been in two short lived relationships with Muggles as well as going on a few dates. But Malfoy. That was just…..well _Malfoy_.

"It's Malfoy" Ron hissed at Harry as if that should explain everything

"And" Harry shrugged "You've known they're friends since April"

"Friends" Ron replied incredulously with a pointed look "We're friends, we don't spoon."

"No….." Harry laughed "But Hermione and I do."

 _Damn_ Ron thought, he's got a point.

"Well still. What if they're more?"

"What if they are more?" Harry replied nonchalantly, sitting up on his elbows. "Why does it bother you? I mean Hermione's spent pretty much every day with him for months, when I came down in July he seemed genuine in his reform, Ginny and Luna just spent a week with him and they all seem to have bonded. Hell Hermione's even keyed into the wards to this place and has lunch with his mother once a week. I think it's a pretty safe bet to say that the guy has grown up since school. The real question is, can you?"

Ron glared at Harry, though logically he knew his best friend made sense.

"Now if you don't mind" Harry began with a cheeky grin "I'm going to get back to snuggling my own little spoon, you know, Ginny has this way of pressing herself against me in her sleep that"

"UGH! Don't want to know!" Ron yelped causing more than a few people in the games room to stir.

A muffled yell caused Draco to stir sleepily. He felt so comfortable and at peace, and he really did not want to wake up yet. Instead he snuggled back down as he moved some stray bushy hairs out of his mouth. _Wait. What! How did this happen?_ Draco thought as he realised that Hermione was snuggled up in his arms sleeping peacefully. Draco peeked under the blankets mostly relieved to find that they were both fully clothed, _Okay, Draco, think_. He ordered himself _we're both still dressed, so we probably haven't drunkenly shagged. Still, this is definitely not a normal part of our friendship._ He tried to extradite himself as his brain cleared he remembered FlicFlac setting up the mattresses and remembered Hermione taking the spot next to him. But that was as far as he got. _Calm down Draco, you probably just rolled over in your sleep and cuddled her on instinct._ No sooner had he had the thought than Hermione did just that, grabbing his arm and pulling it back around her, nuzzling her body into his. _Right well, I guess i'm not going anywhere_ he thought resignedly. Satisfied that they hadn't done something they might regret, Draco decided to just go with it and try to get some more sleep. But five minutes later he realised that was not going to happen. Now that he was consciously aware that there was a witch in his arms, he was finding it very difficult to forget. Especially considering just who that witch was. Draco sighed and propped himself up on one elbow again, looking down at the sleeping woman. Without even realising it, the fingers of his other hand were tracing lazy circles on her arm and when Hermione let out an appreciative noise in her sleep Draco's cock twitched and he swallowed hard. _Fuck_ he thought. _I've got to get out of here before she does that again._ Sighing he stroked her arm one last time and ghosted a kiss across her shoulder. _If only_ he thought before quickly escaping to his bathroom for a cold shower. Or a wank, he wasn't sure yet.

26th September

"So where were you and Granger last week, hey?" Steve asked waggling his eyebrows at Draco in the locker room before their rugby game. "Conveniently _both_ absent"

"It was her birthday, we went away"

Steve's eyebrows shot up his forehead and his eyes widened in disbelief. "Alone?" he asked placing a lot of emphasis on that one word.

Draco sent him a curious look "no, with some friends from school, why would we have gone alone?"

"Oh, no reason" Steve replied quickly. As Draco out of the locker room he added "I hope you figure it out one day though mate."

Jogging after Draco to catch up, he called out "so where'd you guys go then?"

"We hired a boat and went sailing near Fraser Island. Whales everywhere, Granger's got this daft friend Luna who kept trying to talk to them and set them up with each other. It was pretty funny".

Hermione was having much the same conversation in the grandstands with Phobe. Phoebe and Steve had been dating for about a month, so she'd come to watch the game, and dragged Hermione along too. "I brought you my notes" Phoebe started. "Where were you last week, and don't say that you were sick, because I will not believe that since Malfoy was missing as well. Sure you might have been home in bed, but certainly not sick." she said in a teasing tone.

"Why would I be at home in bed if I wasn't sick?" Hermione replied with a confused look "And what does Draco have to do with it?"

Phoebe put her head in her hand and shook it. "Never mind" she sighed. "So where you?"

"Malfoy organised for some of our friends from school to come down and we went sailing for a week, it was great."

"Just for something to do?"  
"Well it was my birthday, 21st. Supposed to be a big deal here, yeah?"

"Yeah it's a pretty big deal, that was cool of him"

"Yeah it was" Hermione said with a semi-secret smile.

"Sooooooo, a week on a boat with a shirtless Malfoy…..anything you want to tell me? Please tell me you at least pashed"

Hermione scoffed. "I'll admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the view, and his two friends were pretty nice to look at in swimmers too, but no nothing happened between us. It's a miracle we're even friends now, but I seriously doubt that he'd ever be interested me in that way."

 _Oh, Hermione, you are so blind_ Phoebe thought rolling her eyes in her head. Out loud she simply asked "Why not, you're hot, you're smart, you work well together and get along well and have all these cute inside jokes and fake fights. You've just admitted you think he's hot, why couldn't something happen?"

"Well there's the fact that he thinks i'm a buck-toothed bushy haired beaver" Hermione said bitingly.

"What on earth makes you think that!?" Phoebe scoffed

"Hrrm maybe six years of him calling me just that."

"Oh Honey" Phoebe sighed "Just because he was an ass in school doesn't mean he still thinks that. I've seen him looking at you, and I can assure you he does _not_ see you as a buck-toothed big haired beaver."

Hermione looked very disbelieving

"Even if what you say is true, where we come from boys like him and girls like me just don't mix" she said. "His father would probably disown him, and well, it's just never going to happen."

"Malfoy has a dad? I just assumed he was dead or otherwise out of the picture."

"Well, I guess he is out of the picture. He's back in England, they don't have a great relationship. But he's still technically head of the household and could cut Draco off. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been betrothed to some girl years younger than him from " _the correct lineage"_ since she was born."

"Gah, even the bloody prince is off living with his " _plebeian_ " girlfriend, surely people don't still do that"

"Draco's people do. He could have been Wills actually. His mum told me that one of their ancestors courted Elizabeth the first, we are talking centuries of peerage on both sides of his family. Trust me, I am not a " _suitable match"_ ".

Steve and Draco's team won the game 22 to 18. As they made their way back to the locker room in high spirits, Steve resumed his earlier questioning. "You really mean to tell me that you spent a week on a boat with Granger, in her togs and nothing happened? Not even a "happy birthday" root?"

"What" Draco replied sharply, "is a root?"

Steve shrugged, "you know, fuck, shag, bang"

"Why is it called that?" he asked looking like he'd just eaten a bogey flavoured every flavour bean.

"Fucked if I know, it just is. And nice deflection mate, but you haven't answered my question"

Draco sighed exasperatedly. "No, nothing happened. It's a bloody miracle she's forgiven me enough to be friends, no way she'd ever see me that way. Besides she's got a bit of a type- a hero type, she's got a trainee cop and an international sports star for exes."

Steve whistled, "a sports star, tough competition, but still, what is it that you've done that you think is so terrible she'd never forgive you?"

"You really don't want to know" Draco said in a tone that clearly signaled the subject was closed.

"Alright, I'll leave you alone mate, but trust me, you should make a move before you miss your chance. I know Luke's got his eye on her too." Steve informed him before heading to the shower.

Draco thought about what Steve had said as he took his own shower. If he was truthful with himself he had been interested in Hermione for a while, actually if he was really truthful he'd been interested in her for years. As much as he'd tried to repress the memory the Amortentia in Slughorn's first class had smelled suspiciously like old books, ink and Sleakeasy's hair serum, he wasn't really sure when it had started, but by the time they'd been studying together for a couple of weeks he'd know he was rapidly developing a fully fledged crush. But she'd been tortured by his aunt in his drawing room, not to mention all the cruel things he'd done and said to her at Hogwarts. Sure she _said_ she didn't blame him for her torture and she'd forgiven him enough to be friends, but he really thought Steve was reaching to think that she could ever actually like him. Frustrated and confused, Draco decided to head to the Red Room and get thoroughly drunk.


	11. Chapter 11

October 2000

Stephanie was having a Halloween party. Her verbal invitations had made it extremely clear that costumes were mandatory. Hermione and Draco had each never even considered going as anything but a witch and a wizard respectively. When they arrived at the party and saw each other, they dissolved into peals of laughter. Draco looked like he'd polyjuiced into Dumbledore, or perhaps the depiction of Merlin from Disney's The Sword and The Stone. Hermione was the classic muggle witch complete with a false none covered in warts. She'd teased her hair giving Draco flashbacks to first year, and sported a broom and black stuffed cat to go along with the tattered black dress, stockings, pointy shoes and pointy hat. Both were using their actual wands as props.

"You" Hermione choked out between laughs, "look so much much like Dumbledore, it's uncanny"

"Well if you like I can change it to Snape instead, I've got that cloak swish of his down pat, we all used to copy it in the common room"

"So that's what Slytherin's do in their spare time is it?" She said still giggling.

"You look ridiculous" Draco laughed "What the hell is this?" he asked squeezing her false nose "are those warts?"

"Yep, I was so relieved when McGonagall turned up and she didn't look like this." Hermione replied gesturing to her ensemble. "Just, no digs about the hair ok" she added, the vulnerability clear in her voice.

"Alright" Draco said holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. Then he gave her an appraising look and said "the one time you go near a broom and it's not even a real one. Such a waste. You could have brought mine"

"I think your racing broom would have been a little bit conspicuous Draco"

"Oh come on, you could have flown through the door and we could have claimed it was some elaborate prank, it would have been great….hang on, I've got my wand, we could still do that"

"No!" Hermione said hands on hips "Though, if it's pranking you are after, I did bring some Bertie Botts beans…. wanna trick the others with them like they did with us and Vegemite?" she added with a smirk.

Draco smirked back, "You're on witch" he said and they set off to find their friends.

Three hours later Draco was grabbing a beer from one of the Eskies on the verhanda of the share house when he heard a familiar sounding giggle coming from around the corner. He hadn't seen Hermione for a while, so he grabbed another drink to offer her and started towards the sound, he soon wished he hadn't. Hermione was there of course, but so was Luke dressed as a vampire, with Hermione pinned up against the wall, her fake nose and hat discarded and her head tilted to one side exposing her neck whilst Luke kissed and sucked at it.

"Mmm" she moaned "bite me again you evil vampire".

Draco froze in shock for a moment before stumbling backwards towards the house. Steve saw him come barreling through and tried to catch his arm and ask what was up. All he managed to get was a semi-coherent ramble about being too late. Draco stormed from the house into the street and apparated straight to the dueling training room in the basement of his house. "Fuck!" he yelled as his fist slammed into one of the training dummies. "Fuck, fuck fuck, I'm too fucking late, Steve warned me this would happen and I didn't fucking listen" he yelled. Twenty minutes later, he sank to the floor in a heap, hands battered and bruised and surrounded by rubble from casting numerous _Reducto_ curses. After sitting there trying to hold back his breakdown for a few minutes, he jumped to his feet, "screw this" he spat, transfigured his outfit into something with far more sex appeal a tight fitting cross between Robin Hood and Green Arrow and promptly apparated back to Stephanie's street. He stalked back into the party, downed two shots and started surveying the girls. When he saw a girl in a German bar maids outfit sizing him up he moved in for the kill.

Hermione had been having a great time at Steph's party. She'd laughed her head off at her and Draco's accidently matching costumes, pranked her friends with vomit and earwax flavoured beans, danced and drank and generally let loose, and now she was enjoying a serious snogging session with Luke. Sure, she might have secretly wished it was Draco, but hey, a snog was a snog, and Luke was a very good kisser. Pretty great with his hands too. They'd been on the verandah quite some time and had finally decided that they should probably head back into the party. Hermione was on her way back from the loo when Stephanie grabbed her. "Hey, wasn't Draco dressed as a wizard?" she asked

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause he seems to now be dressed as a super hot Robin Hood" she said pointing out a guy on the other side of the room.

"Well, you know Draco, always a flare for the dramatic, I wouldn't surprise me in the least if he brought multiple costume changes." Hermione replied with an eyeroll before turning to look where Stephanie had pointed. Sure enough Draco was there, wearing a different outfit, his platinum hair making his identity obvious. But it wasn't his sudden outfit change that had Hermione frozen in shock, for as she was watching a girl pushed him into a chair and climbed onto his lap straddling him as they kissed. In the couple of minutes that Hermione stood watching their display became far too intense for such a public location. Apparently realising that, Draco pushed the girl off his lap, grabbed her hand and they set off towards an empty bedroom. Passing directly by Hermione, hands and mouths groping everywhere as they moved. Just as they got to the door of the bedroom Draco looked up and locked eyes with Hermione, steeling his face into a mask of what he thought was indifference, though in reality there was just a little too much revenge in his eyes. Hermione watched him close the door with a smirk, blinking back hot tears before suddenly turning and running from the scene. She apparated straight home as well, straight on to her bed where she curled up in a ball and sobbed.

Class on Monday was awkward. Hermione arrived red-eyed wearing a _Potter 07_ Gryffindor jersey that she'd probably slept in. She brushed off Luke's attempt to welcome her with a kiss and marched straight to the front row of the lecture hall sitting herself right in the middle so she could direct all her focus on the lesson. Draco didn't sit in their usual spots either. He walked in, saw Hermione in the front and stood there very deliberately in the doorway scanning the room. When he knew she was looking at him (scowl very much in place) he swaggered past her to the stairs at the other side of the seats before taking a place amongst a group of girls in the back corner and immediately flirting shamelessly. Phoebe and Steve looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Luke sulked and Stephanie was looking between them all like she'd clearly realised she'd missed something. The second class finished, Hermione rushed from the room and wasn't seen again until their tutorial that afternoon. Draco also wasn't seen again until their second class, to which he arrived slightly late, dragging along by a petite blonde both of them looking like they had just been having a very good time in an empty room nearby.

By the end of the tutorial Phoebe had had enough and gathered the rest of their friends for a conference. "Right," she started a fierce look on her otherwise placid face, "what happened on Saturday night that has those two acting like grade nines having a lovers tiff?"

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"Well clearly something happened, because when I saw them last they were joking around and talking like normal and now they won't even look at each other, I didn't see anything to explain their bizarre behaviour, but surely between us someone must have noticed something?"

"Uh, well I storm Malfoy storm off in a huff. I tried to ask what he was pissed about, but he just muttered something about being too late and pushed me away" Steve said.

"Hermione left suddenly too" Stephanie piped up. She turned to Steve "what was Draco wearing when you saw him go?"

"A wizard's outfit" Steve replied as if she were slightly dense. "The same thing he was wearing all night"

"But he wasn't" Stephanie interjected."I saw him around 11 wearing this Robin Hood outfit. I thought it was odd that he seemed to have changed costumes and he was on the other side of the room, so I asked 'Mione if I was right and it was actually him. She reckoned Draco changing costumes mid party was pretty standard Malfoy dramatics but then he came past us snogging Kat and Hermione just suddenly left."

"Did she seem upset when you first saw her?" Phoebe questioned.

Stephanie shook her head, "no actually, she looked like she'd been having a great time all smiles and a rather large hickey on her neck" she added with a conspiratorial wink.

Luke blushed.

Steve noticed.

"Aww crap." He sighed. "I know what's wrong."

He looked around the others "Pheobes, I'll fill you in tonight, you and Steph better get to your next class anyway. Luke, let's go to the Red Room, we need to have a drink."

The girls looked a little confused, but headed of to Philosophy anyway. Luke still clueless simply followed Steve to the campus bar.

Later that night he turned up on Hermione's doorstep.

"Hey" he said nervously.

"Hey" she replied sadly.

"Can we talk?" Luke asked. Hermione nodded and stepped through the door, leading Luke to a wooden table and chair twin set in the corner of the front verandah.

"You like him don't you?" Luke asked cutting right to the chase.

Hermione looked mortified. "I'm so sorry" she sobbed "I thought it was over it, but then I saw him dragging some tart into a bedroom and it was like my heart just cracked."

Luke looked slightly mortified himself as she started crying into her hands, shaking uncontrollably. He took a big breath to steel himself and then moved off the chair, kneeling in front of her. "Hermione, it's ok" he said gently pulling her hands away from her face and tilting her chin up so she was looking at him. "I won't lie to you, I'm disappointed, I really like you and I thought it was my lucky day on Saturday, but if you've got feelings for Malfoy then you've got feelings for Malfoy, and I won't stand in the way of you working out what that's about".

Hermione let out a small sob and nodded "Thank you" she whispered resting her forehead against his.

"No sweat" Luke replied, before kissing her on the forehead and standing to leave.

Hermione went to bed that night, still crying but feeling significantly lighter.

Draco got home to find his Mother waiting for him. "What did you do to Hermione?"She demanded as soon as he was in the door.

"What _are_ you talking about mother?" He responded disdainfully.

"She floo called earlier begging off from our lunch date tomorrow, it was clear the girl had been crying, possibly for days."

"What makes you think I had anything to do with upsetting her?" Draco retorted snappily "maybe her stupid cat died, or she only got a 6 on her last test or something."

Narcissa narrowed her eyebrows "Why did you come home from that fancy dress party early, make an absolute mess of your training room and then leave again not returning until the morning?"

 _Shit_ Draco thought. "No reason" he answered flippantly praying that his occlumency walls were still good enough to hold his mother out as he met her gaze.

They weren't and Narcissa caught glimpses of Luke kissing Hermione's neck and Draco shutting a door in her hurt face before turning towards a girl sitting on a bed in nothing but lingerie.

"I see" she said coldly, before turning with a flick of her robes to rival Snape and leaving him standing in the hall.

"FlicFlac" he heard her call "I will take my supper in my drawing room tonight, don't bother making anything for Draco, he can fend for himself." And she set off to write a letter to Hermione explaining that she would still like to see her tomorrow, and would not be in the least bit offended if the girl spent the whole lunch detailing what an ingratiate her son was.

Draco groaned and set off for the main kitchen hoping to find one of those frozen pizzas Steve had introduced him to.

Steve meanwhile spent the night hatching a plan with Phoebe.


	12. Chapter 12

5th November 2000

Brisbane was covered in purple snow. The Jacaranda trees were in bloom, which meant one thing to students everywhere, final exams time. For Hermione and Draco's friends it meant that they knew exactly where to find Hermione, the library. A week had passed since Stephanie's party and though her friendship with Luke was restored and she had attended her lunch with Narcissa, Hermione had yet to speak a word to Draco. Not that he was really trying to patch things up, rather parading an endless stream of girls past her any chance he got. He was so busy trying to find ways to rub his conquests in Hermione's face that he hadn't actually noticed that she and Luke were clearly not a couple. But with exams coming up quickly, even revenge had to take second place to studying, so it wasn't that hard for their friends to get Draco to the library. Steve was on operation Draco, Phoebe on operation Hermione and Stephanie on operation find a group study table near an empty private study room. Luke had decided that while he was mature enough to realise that Hermione's heart lay elsewhere, he wasn't quite mature enough to actively try to get her and Draco together, he'd chosen to go hang out with a friend from school at QUT and use their library to study instead. At 10am on a Sunday, even in November the library was relatively empty, so Stephanie had an easy time finding a table that fit their requirements. She spread out her things claiming the table, texted Phoebe to let her know where she was, then disappeared into the stacks to wait for Hermione and Phoebe to enter the private study area. Once they were inside, she headed back to the table and waited for Draco and Steve to arrive. As soon as she saw the pair she sent a text to Phoebe to set the plan in motion. Fifteen minutes after the boys arrived Phoebe announced she was going to look for a book. Shutting the door behind her, she used all her high school drama training to act completely surprised at seeing her friends sitting at a table not far from the door. "Oh, Hey! I didn't know you guys were here" she said chirpily, pulling out a chair, turning it backwards and plonking herself in it. "I was just going to the stacks anyone want anything?"

"Yeah, can you look for this book for me?" Stephanie replied scribbling the information on a scrap of paper and passing it across the table

"I'll come with you" Steve announced, "I've got a few books I need to look for"

"Cool, Draco you want anything?" Phoebe asked, and he shook his head. "Well can you do me favour and grab my stuff from the study room and bring it out here?"

Draco looked at her like she was crazy, but Phoebe turned on the charm. "Ph-lease" she begged giving her most pathetically adorable puppy-dog eyes. "I'll bring coffee and I'll do all your photocopying for you, I know you hate those machines." she knew she had him then, Draco would do pretty much anything to avoid having to use the photocopiers, they made him feel like he'd been hit with a befuddlement hex just looking at all the options on the key-pad. He always ended up swearing and throwing things around the photocopy machine or trying desperately to flirt with the person at the services counter (male or female) in order to get them to "teach" him.

"Allright" He said, "But it want one of those apple danishes as well" He couldn't seem too keen, after all, he did have a reputation of being a selfish arse to uphold.

"Great" Phoebe said, and jumped up grabbing Steve's hand and bounded away around the corner.

Draco stood up and made his way to the door of the study room, as soon as his back was to them Phoebe and Steve re-appeared and by the time he had opened the door Steve was right behind him. With a shove to the back Draco went stumbling well into the room, Phoebe grabbed the door and they both held it shut whilst Stephanie shoved a chair under the handle. Giving each other high fives, they set back down to work- slash eavesdrop.

Hermione heard the door open again and called out. "That was fast" she said expecting Phoebe. Her reply was a very male sounding noise of shock followed by Draco Malfoy stumbling right into the back of her chair. "Ow" he cried out rubbing his hip as he recovered his balance. "What the fuck?"

"Draco?" Hermione asked turning around, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "This room is taken, so you can take whoever your current tart is and go find somewhere else to shag" she spat.

"I'm not looking for somewhere to shag you bint" he retorted "Phoebe asked me to get her things, but she didn't tell me that _you_ were here."

"Why would Pheobe want you to get her things, she's just gone to find a book" Hermione replied brushing off his claim.

"Maybe because when she saw that the rest of us were outside she decided that she liked the company better out there, than in here." He mocked, reminding Hermione all too much of Hogwarts. But this wasn't Hogwarts, and Hermione had long since learnt the art of the snappy comeback.

"Is that what all the girls say in the morning when they leave? Off to find better company?" she quipped.

Draco's fists clenched. He glared at Hermione as he moved his right hand, wandlessly packing up all of Phoebe's things before picking them up from the neat pile.

"Impressive" Hermione said in a simpering tone. "If only _everything_ about you was as impressive" she said with a pointed glance at his cock. "Ginny kisses and tells" she added with a fake smile that would rival Umbridge. Draco simply turned to leave with a glare, as he reached for the door handle he heard a strange twittering noise.

"Hey Draco," Hermione called, her voice full of spite. as soon as he started to turn back to face her she cast the hex "Oppugno" she spoke hard as ice, and suddenly a flock of birds was flying at Draco's head.

"Fuck!" he yelled jumping sideways at the birds slammed into the door.

"What was that" Stephanie asked from their table outside.

Steve shrugged, "Sounds like they've started throwing things at each other" he said nonchalantly. "My money's on Hermione starting it".

"What the fuck was that for you crazy bint?!" Draco yelled.

"That" Hermione said measuredly "Is what happens to boys who think it's a _great game_ to parade their conquests in front of me." Her tone was clipped and her eyes were full of fire as she threw her hand up by her head and vanished the birds.

"Well, wouldn't want to go to the pub with you, there'd be blood birds flying everywhere. You send those at Scarhead when he snogs the She-weasel?" He quipped back defensively.

"No." Hermione said as if explaining something to someone very very dense. "But I _did_ send them at Ronald in sixth year when he was going around snogging Lavender Brown everywhere you looked." the venom in her voice making it clear that she'd probably hex Ron or Lavender again right now if either of them had happened to be in view.

Something clicked in Draco's brain. "So you sent these birds at Weaslby, and at me, but never at Harry?" he asked as he went on the offensive, stalking towards her and pinning her back against the desk. "Why's that?" he asked as he leaned over her, dragging out the space between the words like Professor Snape. Hermione realised she'd been caught. _Bollocks_ she thought, _maybe if I stay on the offensive I can distract him away from that little slip up._

"That's what I said." she replied waspishly.

"Well that _is_ interesting." Draco continued, leaning in ever so slowly until his face was only millimeters away from hers. He watched as her eyes dilated and heard the almost imperceptible hitch in her breath, and then pulled away. Grabbing one of the chairs he sat in it nonchalantly inspecting his fingernails as if completely bored by this conversation. "Do you know what happens to witches who parade their conquests in front of me?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

"Uh, no" Hermione squeaked confused by his sudden change of tactic

Draco smirked at her, "Well I guess you're about to find out, Extabesco"

Suddlely the world dropped out from underneath Hermione, When it reappeared she was no longer in the private study room on level 4 of SS&H, but standing in the middle of one of the Uni's many lakes, a fountain spraying down on her. "UHG!" Hermione grunted, "That complete arse" as she waded out of the lake, covered in lily pads and pond scum her anger building. She quickly glanced around, thankful that there was no one having a picnic nearby, cast a _Scourgify_ and an _Exaresco_ to clean and dry herself and apparated back into the study room.

"What the hell was that for?" She demanded advancing on Draco punctuating her words with a series of slaps to his body. Draco just sat there looking smugly relaxed, which only irritated her further.

"Oh bite me again you evil vampire" he quoted mockingly in a falsetto voice.

Hermione's blood froze and she backed away. Reaching behind her she fumbled for a chair and slowly sank down. "You saw me with Luke" she stated, more to herself than to Draco, though he answered anyway.

"Yes." he replied quiet but stony.

The silence hung heavily between them.

Their friends having heard nothing in the last few minutes decided that maybe they had better check on Draco and Hermione just in case. Phoebe opened the door, "Oi Malfoy, what happened to bringing my books?" she chirped announcing her presence.

Draco tore his gaze from Hermione and turned to Phoebe "Here" he muttered shoving her books into her arms and striding out the door.

Hermione looked stricken and on the verge of tears. Phoebe sighed and came to sit next to her, but no sooner had she sat down then Hermione blinked rapidly, jumped up and ran from the room chasing after Draco. He was at the main doors to the library by the time she caught up,

"Draco, wait" she cried as he walked outside. Draco pretended not to her her and kept walking, Hermione continuing to chase after him. When she reached him she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop.

"Please, Draco. Just…." she managed to choke out, tears welling in her eyes.

"No Hermione, I can't do this right now" he groaned before snapping his mask of animosity back in place "why don't you go find Luke and play vampires and damsels again" he snapped.

"Because I don't want Luke you idiot." Hermione shouted at him as he started away again. "If you weren't so busy shagging every girl you in first year you _might_ have noticed that Luke and I are _not_ actually together!"

"Why's that?" He asked with a snarl "He only wanted a one time thing did he?"

"No actually" Hermione retorted in her Professor voice "He realised that I have feelinsgs for somebody else and chose to be mature and let me go" she snapped.

Draco scoffed "Whatever"

"Ask him yourself if you don't believe me" Hermione huffed, then nose in the air spun around and walked back to the library in a snit.

Rather than going back to her friends, Hermione hid in the back of a row of stacks no one ever seemed to come by, threw up a silencing spell and sat on the floor and cried. Eventually she sniffed and wiped her eyes and texted Phoebe asking her to bring her things to her. Phoebe approached quietly her eyes full of sympathy, she sank down next to Hermione and wrapped her arm around the smaller girl. "I'm sorry" she said "we thought it would help you two clear the air".

"It's okay" Hermione sniffed, "I probably would have done the same if you and Steve were fighting".

"Did you tell him he's an idiot?" Phoebe asked.

Hermione choked out a laugh, "Yeah" she said, "and I threw things at his head"

"Damn, I owe Steve five bucks, I thought it would be Draco throwing things, what with his dramatic tantrums in the photocopy room and all". Hermione giggled picturing Draco's spectacular tantrums over his inability to use the photocopiers and before long both girls were in hysterics.

"So" Phoebe said taking a big breath to calm herself. "Tell me happened".


	13. Chapter 13

6th November 2000

The next day Draco cornered Luke outside the lecture theatre, "We need to talk" he said darkly grabbing Luke's arm and pulling him around the corner.

Luke sighed, "I take it this is going to be about Hermione?" he asked.

"Got it in one" Draco shot back, "what's going on with you two."

Luke shrugged. "Nothing's going on with us mate. I made a move at Steph's party and she reciprocated. I wanted it to lead somewhere but then she was acting all weird and it became pretty obvious that it wasn't me she wanted to be with." he explained with a pointed look. "She wants you mate. Everyone else can see that clear as day."

With that Luke removed himself from Draco's grasp and walked away, at the end of the hall he paused. "Hey Malfoy" he called over his shoulder "I'm giving you one chance with her, but I won't give you two. Don't fuck it up".

Draco didn't make it to class. Instead he spent the hour aimlessly wandering the campus running through the events of the last few days in his mind. Eventually he reached a decision.

When Hermione walked out of the lecture theatre Draco was waiting leaning against the wall opposite the door.

"Can we talk?" he asked her.

Hermione sighed, "sure" she said sadly, "but not here, come on". She grabbed his hand and led him away, when they were out of sight she turned on the spot and the world compressed around them.

They re-appeared with a pop on a section of rock pools bordering a quiet beach.

"Where are we?" Draco asked.

"Near Maroochydore" Hermione answered. "I've been here a few times with my parents." She fell silent then, waiting for him to speak.

"Look, Hermione" Draco began nervously, "I'm sorry I said that about Luke yesterday. It was uncalled for. And you're right, if I didn't have my head so far up my arse I might have realised that you two weren't together." Hermione gave him a sceptical look.

"Ya think?" she quipped sarcastically.

"Yeah, well. Anyway, I did ask him. And he gave the same reason you said." he fell silent staring at the waves crashing on the rocks. Hermione just stood next to him waiting. "He reckons that everyone else knows who it is you like, that everyone else can see it clear as day."

"He's probably right." Hermione shrugged. "Phoebe knows, which means Steve knows, Steph's probably figured it out too"

"He said it was me" Draco added quietly, glancing sideways to look at her.

Hermione let out a noise something between a sniff and a laugh and shook her head "Of course he did" she sighed

"Is it true?"

"What do you think?" Hermione asked turning to look at him properly her face and tone a mixture of hope and vulnerability.

"I think…." Draco began his breath catching. He stared into her eyes for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say, then suddenly he leaned towards her crashing his lips to hers.

Hermione let out a whimper and sniffed back a tear as their lips parted and their mouths opened finally meeting. Draco's hands moved as if of their own free will, one grabbing Hermione around the waist, the other diving into her wild curls. Hermione's slowly inched their way onto Draco's waist then up his back as their tongues explored each other's mouths.

"It's true" Draco said assuredly when they finally came up for air.

"It's true" Hermione echoed, laying her forehead against his.

 **Three Years Later.**

 **December 2003**

Draco sat waiting at the bar nervously drumming his fingers on the edge of his glass. It was Graduation tomorrow, and Draco had invited Hermione to dinner so they could celebrate without the crowds and huhbub of the ceremony. Well, that's the excuse he'd offered her anyway, he thought wryly as he pulled at the neck of his black shirt nervously. In reality there was a platinum, diamond and Topaz ring burning a hole in his pocket.


	14. Chapter 14

**January 2004**

 **War heroine and Death Eater return to London; Together**

By Rita Skeeter

 _The shine on golden girl Hermione Granger's halo is looking more than a little tarnished as she shocked the Wizarding world returning to London last night on the arm of Death Eater Draco Malfoy, diamonds glittering on her left hand. Even a bludger flying down the street could not have distracted the shoppers in Diagon Alley from the shock of seeing the pair. Granger and Malfoy have both been conspicuously absent from Wizarding society for the past four years. The sudden return of Miss Granger sporting an engagement ring would be enough to spark gossip, but the revelation that her beau is a Death Eater has rumours flying. Has she been punt under the Imperius? "Perhaps"; says Marietta Edgecombe an old classmate of the pair "everyone knows that Malfoy has history with the curse". Imperiused, given a love potion, blackmailed. The suggestions keep owling in, however this reporter is less than convinced. Miss Granger has a long history of toying with the hearts of the men who can bring her the most attention. Harry Potter, Victor Krum, Ron Weasley who will surely be devastated, the latest victim of harlot Hermione's heartbreaking ways. While the world waits to see what the pair's return means for our society we can only hope that it is not a new dark lord with the supposed brains of the golden trio on his side._

Pansy Parkinson cornered Rita Skeeter in the atrium of The Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly's shared building.

"Just because you didn't get the scoop" Pansy hissed, "doesn't mean you can falsely accuse people of being the next Dark Lord. I know about what 'Mione did to you, don't think I wouldn't do the same." She huffed before storming off. As editor for Witch Weekly she prided herself on running a gossip mag that was more factual than the pitiful excuse for a newspaper that was the Daily Prophet under Rita's command. One day she would bring it back to its long since former glory, but for now she would focus on the fact that Witch Weekly was the one with the truth about Hermione and Draco's return. Witch Weekly was running a special issue with eight pages of interviews, stories and picture. A complete backstory of Britain's most unlikely pair, she just had to get it in the printing presses by deadline. Though most of the content had actually been prepared weeks in advance thanks to her inside knowledge of the pair's news and return, Skeeter's inflammatory article had Pansy in damage control, she'd had to add last minute interview questions with all her interviewees, which had thrown off all the spacing for the columns, now her team was rushing to get the magazine ready for print. When she returned to her office the final mock up was waiting for her. Pansy read over it and smiled, a sigh of relief leaving her lips. "Stori" she called to her assistant editor and Daphne's younger sister Astoria. "Start the presses".

At Grimmauld Place Hermione, Draco, Harry, Ginny and Ron were all clustered around the kitchen table awaiting Pansy's arrival. Finally the witch stepped out of the Floo tossing a pile of the Special Editions on the table.

"I gave a certain little bug a warning for you this morning 'Mione" she announced before sinking down on the bench next to Ron.

"That's my girl" Ron replied for Hermione with a fond smile. Hermione shook her head laughing.  
"Thanks Pans"

"Alright let's see what this turned out like" Harry announced pulling the magazine close to him and flicking through the pages.

The front cover contained a photo of the pair post Graduation, cuddled up to each other with Hermione's left hand placed on Draco's chest. Witch Weekly Exclusive Collector's Edition the over screamed. Inside Draco and Hermione's fairytale romance. On the reverse side, a photo of them caught up in a kiss with Draco still wearing his mortarboard, Hermione's ring clearly on display as she reached up to remove the cap, and thread her hands into his hair. The inside contained snaps of Hermione hugging Narcissa, Draco chatting happily with the Granger's and their school friends all gathered together, gushing over them happily. Facing that was a table of contents. Scanning quickly Harry flicked pages turning to his interview. When he found it, he discovered that it was on a double page, His interview on the left, Ron's on the right. In the middle was a picture of the three of them taken at Kings Cross the end of their first year. In the top left corner a picture of him and Hermione from around 4th year, and the bottom right held one of Hermione and Ron from Bill and Fleur's wedding. "Best friends since age eleven and fellow defeaters of Voldemort speak of their joy at Hermione's engagement." the headline read.  
Ron had stood up and now peaked over his shoulder reading along.  
"Ha!" He crowed "Contrary to the Daily Prophet's assumption of heartbreak Ron Weasley grinned when I asked him how he felt about Hermione and Draco's engagement. 'I think it's brilliant' Weasley said. 'And i'm certainly not upset about Harlot Hermione' he adds with a scoff. 'We were only ever together for a year, our break up was tough at the time, sure, but we had both dated a few other people and were happy being simply friends again long before Malfoy entered the scene.' when asked what his thought were on the claims in the Prophet that Miss Granger was perhaps impressed, and that Mr Malfoy was the next dark lord Mr Weasley immediately burst out laughing and did not stop for several minutes, finally replying with "oh that's classic."

Harry, Ginny, Luna and Neville's interviews were much the same, with harry talking about how he and Draco played friendly Quidditch and Rugby matches or went on rollercosters together whenever they were in the same city. The interview with Hermione's parents spoke about their early apprehension to the couple's friendship given Hermione's letters home about him during school and her regular flashbacks of the war, but within a few weeks they had realised that Draco had truly changed and were completely supportive of their relationship even having gone so far as to place bets on when the pair would finally get together.

Narcissa spoke glowingly of her future daughter-in-law, quoting Nietzsche when asked about her change of politics. "The Malfoy family has not always been anti-muggle, before the Statue of Secrecy Malfoy's were regular guests at court. Unfortunately over time, as the family forgot what Muggles were truly like, fear of the unknown set in, so by the time my late husband was born, he was raised with a number of inaccurate beliefs. When Draco chose to hand in his wand for a year after the war, he was able to see for himself that his previously taught beliefs were wrong, and opened my equally sheltered eyes to the truth. Neither of us saw any purpose to continuing to deny the reality in front of our own eyes, after all, a mind that is no longer open to change ceases to be a mind, and have spent the last five years happily living in both Muggle and Wizarding societies. I urge anyone who is still holding on to the old beliefs to step through the door of the Leaky Cauldron and see for yourself what the Muggle world is like."

Pansy had written the editors note, exposing her happiness with Draco's happiness, and making scathing remarks towards the prophet's believers. "Anyone who spends even a few minutes in the pair's company can tell that their relationship is genuine, though I have to agree that Wizarding Britain should run scared of the formidable team that Malfoy and Granger will make. For the pair will most certainly make their mark and change our world forever. After all the only thing scarier than the idea of a Granger-backed Dark Lord, is a Granger-Malfoy. Righteous indignation, and determination to fix all the ills in our society, meets the money, law degree and connections necessary for her to do just that. Oh yes, we should definitely watch out."

The middle pages contained more photos, candid shots and posed. Images from their four years of University, with muggle and wizarding friends alike. Pictures from trips they had taken, and holidays spent with each other's families, including one Christmas at the Burrow, Draco sporting his very own Weasley sweater, and playing Chess with Ron. The back half held a history of their romance, the story spun out to rival that of Romeo and Juliet, and the final pages held interviews with Draco's friends, and a blessing from both McGonagall and Shacklebolt. All in all the magazine made it very clear that anyone who believed the Prophet's version of the story was an idiot, and that five of the most influential people in Wizarding Britain were on Hermione and Draco's side.

As the group flicked through the magazines laughing over quotes and reminiscing over photos, Pansy spoke again. "After this mammoth task, I need a holiday." she sighed dramatically.

"Aww poor Pans, worked to the bone." Draco teased.

She growled at him, "so Weasley holiday. Get planning." She huffed causing everyone to snicker, they hadn't quite gotten used to the way Ron happily let Pansy boss him around just yet. Or to the even creepier way that Pansy happily acted the domestic goddess for Ron.

"Already on it love," Ron piped up. "Draco sent his yacht over, it's waiting for us in Calis."

Pansy smirked. "Excellent."


	15. Chapter 15

November 6th 2004

 ****The Granger-Malfoy wedding took place at dawn on the couple's five year anniversary, held on the same stretch of beach where they had their first kiss. Instead of the lavish Wizarding affair that many expected with a guest list well in excess of two hundred, it was quiet, and intimate. Forty guests made up the witnesses, the pairs Uni friends among them. They had no bridal party, not feeling the need for one. Draco wore a pale grey, almost white suit, with bare feet, his blonde hair grown slightly long. Hermione was also barefoot, in a slim-line lace covered wedding dress, her hair swept up to one side in a low loose. She walked down her aisle herself, her father having raised her understanding quite well that she didn't want to be "given away" like a piece of property. Thus the only other person with Draco at the flower entwined wooden archway that stood as their altar, was Kingsley Shacklebolt who had been delighted to be asked to officiate.

As Hermione floated up the aisle made between white benches, the bride and groom watched each other with equally huge smiles.

When it was all over, the paperwork signed, photos taken and casual wedding breakfast held, Hermione and Draco were sent off in a wave of well wishing, and golden sparks. They ran hand in hand down the beach through the tunnel of wand sparks, (their muggle friends holding sparklers) apparating away to the stateroom of Draco's 33 foot, (magically enhanced) monohull.

"Who would have thought," Draco whispered as he stroked Hermione's face. "Us Married?"

"Married" Hermione repeated, smiling back at him. "How _did_ that happen?"

The End.


End file.
